Bill Text: PA HB1379 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Further providing for death and fetal death registration; providing for deceased veteran notification to county government; and 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.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 32-16)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-25 - Referred to VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS [HB1379 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2011-HB1379-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 1619
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1379 Session of2011
INTRODUCED BY BARRAR, AUMENT, CONKLIN, D. COSTA, COX, CREIGHTON, DAVIS, DeWEESE, DONATUCCI, EVERETT, FABRIZIO, FLECK, GABLER, GEIST, GEORGE, GILLEN, GINGRICH, GODSHALL, GOODMAN, GRELL, HARHART, HESS, HORNAMAN, JOHNSON, F. KELLER, W. KELLER, KILLION, KIRKLAND, KULA, MICOZZIE, MILLER, MOUL, MURPHY, MURT, O'NEILL, PYLE, QUINN, RAPP, READSHAW, REICHLEY, ROCK, SAINATO, STEVENSON, SWANGER, TOEPEL AND VULAKOVICH, APRIL 25, 2011
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, APRIL 25, 2011
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; and 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
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 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 or the State
Registrar of Vital Statistics, 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
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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
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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 July 2, 2009
(P.L.52, No.11), 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
or the State Registrar of Vital Statistics issues a permit for
disposal. The local registrar or the State Registrar of Vital
Statistics 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 or the State
Registrar of Vital Statistics within ten days from the date of
interment [or], cremation or final disposition.
Section 5. Section 506 of the act, amended November 20, 1981
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(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
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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.
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