PRINTER'S NO. 1071
No. 940 Session of 1985
INTRODUCED BY FRYER, STUBAN, SWEET, A. C. FOSTER, JR. AND
SIRIANNI, APRIL 16, 1985
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND WELFARE, APRIL 16, 1985
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," requiring notice to the coroner or medical examiner
14 and approval thereof before a cremation permit may be issued;
15 and providing penalties.
16 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
17 hereby enacts as follows:
18 Section 1. Section 504 of the act of June 29, 1953 (P.L.304,
19 No.66), known as the Vital Statistics Law of 1953, amended July
20 9, 1971 (P.L.213, No.38), is amended to read:
21 Section 504. Death and Fetal Death Registration: Permits
22 Concerning Dead Bodies and Fetal Remains.--(a) No person shall
23 dispose of a dead body or fetal remains until a local registrar
24 issues a permit therefor. The local registrar shall issue the
1 permit only after the person in charge of interment or removal
2 has filed with the local registrar a certificate of death or
3 fetal death and has complied with all regulations with respect
4 to the issuance of the permit. The local registrar shall issue a
5 cremation permit only after notifying the coroner or medical
6 examiner of the county in which the death occurred and receiving
7 his approval. Any local registrar issuing a cremation permit in
8 violation of this section shall be subject to the penalties
9 provided in section 901.
10 (b) The sexton or other person in charge of any premises in
11 which bodies are interred or cremated shall not allow the
12 interment or cremation of any dead body or fetal remains unless
13 a permit issued under this section is presented to him. The
14 sexton or other person in charge of such premises shall indorse
15 upon each permit presented to him the date of interment or
16 cremation, over his signature, and shall return the permit so
17 indorsed to the local registrar of his district within ten days
18 from the date of interment or cremation.
19 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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