The Bureau of Indian Affairs has released federal funds to help the Navajo Nation pay an overdue medical bill.

The tribe owes about $200,000 to the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator. In April 2006, the state stopped performing autopsies unless the tribe paid up front.

The tribe typically requests about 60 to 80 autopsies a year from the state, the Associated Press. But the state only performed about a dozen over the past two years due to the billing dispute.

Get the Story:
BIA approves funding for Navajo autopsy bill (AP 5/21)

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New Mexico halts autopsies for Navajo Nation