THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY BISHOP, HARKINS, SIPTROTH, KOTIK, THOMAS, BELFANTI, GINGRICH, JOHNSON AND BROWN, OCTOBER 4, 2010

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, OCTOBER 4, 2010  

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 certificates.

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

2, 2009 (P.L.52, No.11), 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 completed in

accordance with section five hundred two, section five hundred

three or section five hundred seven of this act and filed within

[ninety-six (96)] thirty-six (36) hours after the death or fetal

death or within [ninety-six (96)] thirty-six (36) 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 person in charge of interment or of removal of the

dead body or fetal remains from the registration district shall

file the certificate with any local registrar or the State

Registrar of Vital Statistics, who shall be authorized to issue

certified copies of such death.

Section 2.  Sections 502 and 503 of the act, amended December

20, 1991 (P.L.399, No.46), 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

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] an

attending physician or (ii) in the case of a death, by the 

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] or (iii) in the case of a fetal

death, by the attending physician. The certificate shall be

completed in black ink and as otherwise directed on forms

provided by the Department of Health to hospitals for easy

availability to medical personnel for this purpose.

(3)  In all cases where the physician 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 or dentist who qualifies under clause (2) for

a medical certification. In the event a qualified alternate

physician 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

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] a death or fetal death

shall, within four (4) business hours of gaining such knowledge, 

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 3.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.