PRINTER'S NO. 440
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
424
Session of
2017
INTRODUCED BY BENNINGHOFF, BARRAR, DEASY, DeLUCA, A. HARRIS,
IRVIN, JAMES, KNOWLES, MENTZER, MILLARD, MOUL, MURT, NELSON,
O'BRIEN, PICKETT, STAATS, WATSON, ZIMMERMAN AND KINSEY,
FEBRUARY 10, 2017
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, FEBRUARY 10, 2017
AN ACT
Amending the act of June 29, 1953 (P.L.304, No.66), entitled "An
act providing for the administration of a statewide system of
vital statistics; prescribing the functions of the State
Department of Health, the State Advisory Health Board and
local registrars; imposing duties upon coroners,
prothonotaries, clerks of orphans' court, physicians,
midwives and other persons; requiring reports and
certificates for the registration of vital statistics;
regulating the disposition of dead bodies; limiting the
disclosure of records; prescribing the sufficiency of vital
statistics records as evidence; prescribing fees and
penalties; and revising and consolidating the laws relating
thereto," in death and fetal death registration, further
providing for information for certificates and for coroner
referrals.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 502 and 503 of the act of June 29, 1953
(P.L.304, No.66), known as the Vital Statistics Law of 1953, are
amended to read:
Section 502. Death and Fetal Death Registration: Information
for Certificates.--In preparing a certificate of death or fetal
death, the person in charge of interment or of removal of a dead
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body or fetal remains from the registration district shall
obtain the required information. The following persons shall
supply the information certified by their respective signatures:
(1) Personal information concerning the deceased or the
fetal death shall be supplied by the person best acquainted with
the facts.
(2) Subject to the limitation contained in clause (3), the
medical certification, except in the event of a referral to the
coroner pursuant to section five hundred three of this act,
shall be supplied (i) in the case of a death, by the physician
[or], certified registered nurse practitioner or physician
assistant or (ii) dentist who is a staff member of an approved
hospital who attended the deceased during the last illness,
provided the death occurs in the hospital and the deceased had
been admitted on the dental service, and (iii) in the case of a
fetal death, by the attending physician [or], certified
registered nurse practitioner or physician assistant.
(3) In all cases where the physician, certified registered
nurse practitioner [or], physician assistant or dentist who
would otherwise supply the medical certification is a member of
the immediate family of the deceased, the case shall be referred
to another physician, certified registered nurse practitioner
[or], physician assistant or dentist who qualifies under clause
(2) for a medical certification. In the event a qualified
alternate physician, certified registered nurse practitioner
[or], physician assistant or dentist is unavailable or unwilling
to provide the medical certification required by law, the case
shall be referred to the coroner of the county wherein the death
occurred or to a coroner of an adjacent county. In no event
shall a coroner sign a certificate of death or fetal death for a
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deceased who was a member of his immediate family.
Section 503. Death and Fetal Death Registration: Coroner
Referrals.--The local registrar or person in charge of interment
or other person having knowledge of the death or fetal death
shall refer to the coroner the following cases: (1) where no
physician, certified registered nurse practitioner [or],
physician assistant or dentist who is a staff member of an
approved hospital was in attendance during the last illness of
the deceased or in the case of a fetal death where there was no
attending physician [or], certified registered nurse
practitioner or physician assistant or (2) where the physician,
certified registered nurse practitioner [or], physician
assistant or dentist who is a staff member of an approved
hospital in attendance during the last illness of the deceased
or the attending physician [or], certified registered nurse
practitioner or physician assistant in the case of a fetal death
is physically unable to supply the necessary data, or (3) where
the circumstances suggest that the death was sudden or violent
or suspicious in nature or was the result of other than natural
causes, or (4) where the physician, certified registered nurse
practitioner, physician assistant, dentist or coroner who
provided or would provide the medical certification is a member
of the immediate family of the deceased. In every instance of a
referral under this section, the coroner shall make an immediate
investigation and shall supply the necessary data, including the
medical certification of the death or fetal death. In no event
shall a coroner sign a certificate of death or fetal death for a
deceased who was a member of his immediate family.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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