PRINTER'S NO. 2050
No. 1646 Session of 1987
INTRODUCED BY FOX, STABACK, NOYE, DISTLER, TIGUE, RAYMOND,
KOSINSKI, OLASZ, FOSTER, BATTISTO, SEMMEL, ACOSTA, CIVERA,
MRKONIC, BARLEY, MICOZZIE, SIRIANNI, SHOWERS, BUNT, NAHILL,
JACKSON, O'BRIEN, PETRONE, GEIST, WASS, ROBBINS,
E. Z. TAYLOR, BELARDI, BURD, LANGTRY, GRUPPO, BLACK, PERZEL,
CLYMER, J. TAYLOR, JOHNSON, FLICK, LINTON, VROON AND COHEN,
JULY 1, 1987
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND WELFARE, JULY 1, 1987
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of June 29, 1953 (P.L.304, No.66), entitled "An
2 act providing for the administration of a statewide system of
3 vital statistics; prescribing the functions of the State
4 Department of Health, the State Advisory Health Board and
5 local registrars; imposing duties upon coroners,
6 prothonotaries, clerks of orphans' court, physicians,
7 midwives and other persons; requiring reports and
8 certificates for the registration of vital statistics;
9 regulating the disposition of dead bodies; limiting the
10 disclosure of records; prescribing the sufficiency of vital
11 statistics records as evidence; prescribing fees and
12 penalties; and revising and consolidating the laws relating
13 thereto," further providing for information on death
14 certificates.
15 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
16 hereby enacts as follows:
17 Section 1. Sections 502 and 503 of the act of June 29, 1953
18 (P.L.304, No.66), known as the Vital Statistics Law of 1953,
19 amended November 21, 1967 (P.L.516, No.250), are amended to
20 read:
21 Section 502. Death and Fetal Death Registration: Information
1 for Certificates.--In preparing a certificate of death or fetal
2 death, the person in charge of interment or of removal of a dead
3 body or fetal remains from the registration district shall
4 obtain the required information. The following persons shall
5 supply the information certified by their respective signatures:
6 (1) Personal information concerning the deceased or the
7 fetal death shall be supplied by the person best acquainted with
8 the facts.
9 (2) The medical certification, except in the event of a
10 referral to the coroner pursuant to section five hundred three
11 of this act, shall be supplied (i) in the case of a death, by
12 the physician or (ii) dentist who is a staff member of an
13 approved hospital who attended the deceased during the last
14 illness, provided the death occurs in the hospital and the
15 deceased had been admitted on the dental service, and (iii) in
16 the case of a fetal death, by the attending physician. The
17 medical certification shall, in addition to other required
18 information, set forth any communicable disease which the
19 deceased person was known to have.
20 Section 503. Death and Fetal Death Registration: Coroner
21 Referrals.--The local registrar or person in charge of interment
22 or other person having knowledge of the death or fetal death
23 shall refer to the coroner the following cases: (1) where no
24 physician or dentist who is a staff member of an approved
25 hospital was in attendance during the last illness of the
26 deceased or in the case of a fetal death where there was no
27 attending physician, or (2) where the physician or dentist who
28 is a staff member of an approved hospital in attendance during
29 the last illness of the deceased or the attending physician in
30 the case of a fetal death is physically unable to supply the
19870H1646B2050 - 2 -
1 necessary data, or (3) where the circumstances suggest that the
2 death was sudden or violent or suspicious in nature or was the
3 result of other than natural causes. In every instance of a
4 referral under this section, the coroner shall make an immediate
5 investigation and shall supply the necessary data, including the
6 medical certification of the death or fetal death. The medical
7 certification shall, in addition to other required information,
8 set forth any communicable disease which the deceased person was
9 known to have.
10 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
F18L35CHF/19870H1646B2050 - 3 -