THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY FAIRCHILD, BAKER, BELFANTI, BENNINGHOFF, BEYER, BOBACK, BRENNAN, CALTAGIRONE, CARROLL, CAUSER, COHEN, D. COSTA, CREIGHTON, DEASY, EVERETT, GIBBONS, GINGRICH, GOODMAN, GRELL, GROVE, GRUCELA, HALUSKA, HARRIS, HENNESSEY, HESS, HICKERNELL, KAUFFMAN, M. KELLER, KOTIK, KULA, MANN, MARSHALL, MICOZZIE, MILLER, MOUL, MURT, O'NEILL, PAYNE, PHILLIPS, PICKETT, PYLE, QUINN, RAPP, READSHAW, REICHLEY, SAYLOR, SIPTROTH, K. SMITH, SONNEY, STABACK, STERN, STEVENSON, SWANGER, TALLMAN, J. TAYLOR, VULAKOVICH AND YOUNGBLOOD, JUNE 10, 2009

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, JUNE 10, 2009  

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," further providing for death and fetal death

registration; providing for deceased veteran notification to

county government; further providing for referral of deaths

to coroner, for permits concerning dead bodies and fetal

remains, for registration permits concerning dead bodies and

fetal remains, for regulations and for registrations.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Section 501 of the act of June 29, 1953 (P.L.304,

No.66), known as the Vital Statistics Law of 1953, amended July

9, 1971 (P.L.213, No.38), is amended to read:

Section 501.  Death and Fetal Death Registration:

Certificates to be Filed.--A certificate of each death or fetal

death which occurs in this Commonwealth shall be filed within

ninety-six (96) hours after the death or fetal death or within

ninety-six (96) hours after the finding of a dead body or fetal

remains. In every instance, the certificate shall be filed prior

to the issuance of a permit for interment or other disposition

of the dead body or fetal remains. The legally authorized person

in charge of interment, final disposition or of removal of the

dead body or fetal remains from the registration district shall

file the certificate with any local registrar who shall be

authorized to issue certified copies of such death.

Section 2.  The act is amended by adding a section to read:

Section 502.1.  Deceased Veteran Notification to County

Government.--For purposes of determining veterans benefits

available to deceased veterans or surviving family members, a

funeral director, as defined by the act of January 14, 1952

(1951 P.L.1898, No.522), known as the Funeral Director Law, or a

legally authorized person in charge of interment or final

disposition, shall make every reasonable effort to determine if

the deceased had served in the United States Armed Forces during

a period of war or armed conflict in which the United States was

engaged or during peacetime. Upon determination that the

deceased is a veteran of the United States Armed Forces, the

funeral director or legally authorized person in charge of

interment or final disposition shall provide notification of the

veteran's death to the county veterans affairs office of the

county where the deceased veteran is to be interred or to the

location of final disposition. Notification shall be transmitted

to the appropriate county veterans affairs office by completion

of a standardized form prescribed by the Department of Military

and Veterans Affairs. The forms shall be transmitted to the

appropriate county within thirty (30) days after proof of

military service has been provided to the funeral director or

legally authorized person in charge of interment or final

disposition.

Section 3.  Section 503 of the act, amended December 20, 1991

(P.L.399, No.46), is amended to read:

Section 503.  Death and Fetal Death Registration: Coroner

Referrals.--The local registrar or legally authorized person in

charge of interment or [other person] final disposition having

knowledge of the death or fetal death shall refer to the coroner

the following cases: (1) where no physician 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 (2) where the

physician or dentist who is a staff member of an approved

hospital in attendance during the last illness of the deceased

or the attending physician 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, 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 4.  Section 504 of the act, amended October 27, 2006

(P.L.1200, No.129), is amended to read:

Section 504.  Death and Fetal Death Registration: Permits

Concerning Dead Bodies and Fetal Remains.--No person shall

dispose of a dead body or fetal remains until a local registrar

issues a permit for disposal. The local registrar shall be

authorized to issue the permit and may issue blank presigned

permits to the funeral director only. The funeral director or

[the] legally authorized person in charge of interment, final

disposition or removal shall, within ninety-six (96) hours after

the death or fetal death or within ninety-six (96) hours after

the finding of a dead body or fetal remains, file with the local

registrar a certificate of death or fetal death.

The sexton or other person in charge of any premises in which

bodies are interred or cremated shall not allow the interment

[or], cremation or final disposition of any dead body or fetal

remains unless a permit issued under this section is presented

to the sexton. The sexton or other person in charge of the

premises shall indorse upon each permit presented to the sexton

or other person the date of interment [or], cremation[,] or

final disposition over the sexton's or other person's signature,

and shall return the permit so indorsed to the local registrar

of the sexton's or other person's district within ten days from

the date of interment [or], cremation or final disposition.

Section 5.  Section 506 of the act, amended November 20, 1981

(P.L.338, No.123), is amended to read:

Section 506.  Death and Fetal Death Registration: Regulations

Concerning Dead Bodies and Fetal Remains.--The Advisory Health

Board shall make and may amend or repeal regulations governing

disposal, transportation, interment, final disposition and

disinterment of dead bodies and fetal remains, in order to

protect the public health and promote the integrity and efficacy

of death and fetal death registration. However, the Advisory

Health Board shall not, pursuant to the authority contained in

this or any other act, promulgate any regulation which would

require that the top of the outer case containing a casket be

buried a distance of more than two feet from the natural surface

of the ground.

Section 6.  Section 507 of the act, added December 20, 1991

(P.L.399, No.46), is amended to read:

Section 507.  Death and Fetal Death Registrations:

Pronouncement of Death by a Professional Nurse.--(a)

Professional nurses licensed under the act of May 22, 1951

(P.L.317, No.69), known as "The Professional Nursing Law," who

are involved in direct care of a patient shall have the

authority to pronounce death as determined under the act of

December 17, 1982 (P.L.1401, No.323), known as the "Uniform

Determination of Death Act," in the case of death from natural

causes of a patient who is under the care of a physician when

the physician is unable to be present within a reasonable period

of time to certify the cause of death.

(b)  Professional nurses shall have the authority to release

the body of the deceased to a funeral director or legally

authorized person after notice has been given to the attending

physician, when the deceased has an attending physician, and to

a family member.

(c)  If circumstances surrounding the nature of death are not

anticipated and require a coroner's investigation, the

professional nurse shall notify the county coroner, and the

authority to release the body of the deceased to the funeral

director or legally authorized person shall be that of the

coroner.

(d)  This section provides for the pronouncement of death by

professional nurses in accordance with the "Uniform

Determination of Death Act," but in no way authorizes a nurse to

determine the cause of death. The responsibility for determining

the cause of death remains with the physician or the coroner as

provided under this act.

(e)  (1)  Professional nurses and employing agencies of

professional nurses acting in good faith and in compliance with

the guidelines established by this act and the State Board of

Nursing shall be immune from liability claims by reason of

pronouncing death.

(2)  Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to

impose any obligation upon a professional nurse to carry out the

function authorized by this act.

(3)  Nothing in this section is intended to relieve a

professional nurse of any civil or criminal liability that might

otherwise be incurred for failing to follow the rules and

regulations of the State Board of Nursing.

(4)  Nothing in this section shall preempt the requirements

of the provisions of 20 Pa.C.S. Ch. 86 (relating to anatomical

gifts).

Section 7.  This act shall take effect immediately.