S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  5001

                       2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                               May 2, 2011
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  HANNON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Health

AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to death certificates

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Subdivision  4  of section 4141 of the public health law,
paragraph (d) as added by chapter 413 of the laws of 2005, is amended to
read as follows:
  4. (a) The medical certificate shall be made, dated, and signed by the
physician OR A PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT ACTING UNDER  THE  SUPERVISION  OF  A
PHYSICIAN, if any, last in attendance on the deceased.
  (b)  Indefinite terms, denoting only symptoms of disease or conditions
resulting from disease, shall not be held sufficient.
  (c) Any certificate stating the cause of  death  in  terms  which  the
commissioner  [shall  have  declared]  DECLARES  indefinite[,]  shall be
returned to the physician, A PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT ACTING UNDER THE SUPER-
VISION OF A PHYSICIAN, or person making the medical  certificate[,]  for
correction  and more definite statement.  A CERTIFICATE CERTIFIED TO AND
SIGNED BY A PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT IN ACCORDANCE WITH  THIS  SECTION  SHALL
HAVE  THE  SAME  FORCE  AND  EFFECT  IN LAW AS A CERTIFICATE SIGNED BY A
PHYSICIAN.
  (d) Where a death is caused by an opioid  overdose,  such  information
shall be indicated, including any related information as the commission-
er may require.
  S  2. Section 4141-a of the public health law, as added by chapter 402
of the laws of 1968, is amended to read as follows:
  S 4141-a. Death certificate; duties of hospital administrator.  When a
death occurs in a hospital, except in those cases where certificates are
issued by coroners or medical examiners, the person in  charge  of  such
hospital  or his OR HER designated representative shall promptly present
the certificate to the physician OR A PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT  ACTING  UNDER
THE SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN in attendance, or a physician OR A PHYSI-
CIAN ASSISTANT ACTING UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN acting in his
OR HER behalf, who shall promptly certify to the facts of death, provide

              

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD06896-01-1

S. 5001                             2

the  medical  information  required by the certificate, sign the medical
certificate of death, and thereupon  return  such  certificate  to  such
person,  so that the seventy-two hour registration time limit prescribed
in  section  four thousand one hundred forty of this [chapter] TITLE can
be met.  A CERTIFICATE CERTIFIED TO AND SIGNED BY A PHYSICIAN  ASSISTANT
IN  ACCORDANCE WITH THIS SECTION SHALL HAVE THE SAME FORCE AND EFFECT IN
LAW AS A CERTIFICATE SIGNED BY A PHYSICIAN.
  S 3. Subdivision (b) of section 4142 of  the  public  health  law,  as
amended  by  chapter  402  of  the  laws  of 1968, is amended to read as
follows:
  (b) present the certificate promptly to  the  attending  physician  OR
PHYSICIAN  ASSISTANT  UNDER  THE  SUPERVISION  OF A PHYSICIAN, who shall
forthwith certify to the facts of death, provide the medical information
required by the certificate and sign the medical certificate  of  death,
or  to  the coroner or medical examiner in those cases where so required
by this article or, when a death occurs in a hospital, except  in  those
cases where certificates are issued by coroners or medical examiners, to
the person in charge of such hospital or his OR HER designated represen-
tative,  who shall obtain the medical certificate of death as prescribed
in section four thousand  one  hundred  forty-one-a  of  this  [chapter]
TITLE;
  S  4.  Paragraph  (b)  of  subdivision 2 of section 4144 of the public
health law, as amended by chapter 188 of the laws of 1997, is amended to
read as follows:
  (b) [Verbal] SPOKEN permission to remove a body of a  deceased  person
from  the county in which death occurred or the body was found to a non-
adjacent county within the state of New York, as provided in subdivision
one [hereof] OF THIS SECTION, shall be issued by the said  registrar  of
vital statistics, upon request by telephone of a licensed funeral direc-
tor or undertaker who holds a certificate of death signed by the attend-
ing  physician  OR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A PHYSI-
CIAN, showing THAT the death resulted from natural causes[,] and was not
a result of accidental, suicidal, homicidal or other external causes.
  S 5. The section heading and subdivisions 2, 3 and 4 of  section  4161
of  the  public  health  law,  the  section heading and subdivision 4 as
amended by chapter 402 of the laws of 1968, subdivision 2 as amended  by
chapter 884 of the laws of 1972, and subdivision 3 as amended by chapter
388 of the laws of 1968, are amended to read as follows:
  Fetal  death  certificates;  form  and  content; physicians, PHYSICIAN
ASSISTANTS, midwives, and hospital administrators.
  2. In each case where a physician OR  PHYSICIAN  ASSISTANT  UNDER  THE
SUPERVISION  OF  A PHYSICIAN was in attendance at[,] or after[,] a fetal
death, it [shall be] IS the duty of such physician OR PHYSICIAN  ASSIST-
ANT  UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN to certify to the birth and to
the cause of death on the fetal death certificate.   Where a  nurse-mid-
wife  was  in  attendance  at a fetal death it [shall be] IS the duty of
such nurse-midwife to certify to the birth but,  HE  OR  she  shall  not
certify to the cause of death on the fetal death certificate.
  3.  Fetal  deaths  occurring  without the attendance of a physician OR
PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A  PHYSICIAN  as  [defined]
PROVIDED  in  subdivision two of this section shall be treated as deaths
without medical attendance, as provided in this article.
  4. When a fetal death occurs in a  hospital,  except  in  those  cases
where  certificates  are  issued  by  coroners or medical examiners, the
person in charge of such hospital or his  OR  HER  designated  represen-
tative shall promptly present the certificate to the physician OR PHYSI-

S. 5001                             3

CIAN  ASSISTANT UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN in attendance, or a
physician OR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT UNDER THE SUPERVISION  OF  A  PHYSICIAN
acting  in his OR HER behalf, who shall promptly certify to the facts of
birth  and  of  fetal death, provide the medical information required by
the certificate, sign the medical certificate of birth  and  death,  and
thereupon  return  such certificate to such person, so that the seventy-
two hour registration time limit prescribed in section four thousand one
hundred sixty of this [chapter] TITLE can be met.
  S 6. The section heading and subdivision 1  of  section  4171  of  the
public  health  law, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 884 of the laws
of 1972, is amended to read as follows:
  Records; duties of physicians, PHYSICIAN  ASSISTANTS,  and  others  to
furnish  information.  1.  Physicians,  PHYSICIAN  ASSISTANTS  UNDER THE
SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN, nurse-midwives, funeral directors, undertak-
ers and informants, and all other persons having knowledge of the facts,
are hereby required to supply, upon a form provided by the  commissioner
or  upon  the original certificate, such information as they may possess
regarding any birth or death upon demand of the commissioner, in person,
by mail, or through the registrar.
  S 7. Subdivisions 1, 3 and 5 of section 4175 of the public health law,
as amended by chapter 884 of the laws of 1972, are amended  to  read  as
follows:
  1.  If,  at any time after the birth, or within one year of the death,
of any person within the state, a certified copy of the official  record
of  said  birth or death, with the information required to be registered
by this article, [be] IS necessary for legal, judicial, or other  proper
purposes,  and, after search by the commissioner or his OR HER represen-
tatives, it [should appear] APPEARS that no such certificate of birth or
death was made and filed as provided by this article, then  the  commis-
sioner  shall  immediately  require  the  physician, PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT
UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN, or nurse-midwife[,] who, being  in
attendance upon a birth, failed or neglected to file a certificate ther-
eof,  or  the  funeral director, undertaker, or other person who, having
charge of the interment or removal of the body  of  a  deceased  person,
failed  or neglected to file the certificate of death, if he or she [be]
IS living, to obtain and file at once  with  the  local  registrar  such
certificate in as complete form as the lapse of time will permit.
  3.  If  the  physician, PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A
PHYSICIAN, nurse-midwife, funeral director,  or  undertaker  responsible
for  the  report[,]  is  deceased  or cannot be located, then the person
making application for the certified copy of the record  may  file  such
certificate  of  birth or death together with such statements subscribed
and affirmed by the persons making them as true under the  penalties  of
perjury and other evidence as the commissioner may require.
  5. The delinquent physician, PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT UNDER THE SUPERVISION
OF  A  PHYSICIAN,  nurse-midwife, funeral director, undertaker, or other
person may, in the discretion of  the  commissioner,  be  prosecuted  as
required  by  this article, without bar from the statute of limitations,
if he or she [shall neglect or fail] NEGLECTS OR FAILS to file  promptly
the certificate required by this section.
  S 8. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
it  shall have become a law; provided, however, that the commissioner of
health is authorized and directed to  promulgate  any  rules  and  regu-
lations  necessary to implement the provisions of this act on its effec-
tive date on or before such date.