BILL NUMBER: S7168

SPONSOR: SERINO
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the reporting of
lyme and tick-borne disease infection after death

 
PURPOSE:

Relates to reporting Lyme and tick-borne disease infections after death

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends the public health law to add a new section 2799 to
require that if a coroner, pathologist, medical examiner, or other
person qualified to conduct an examination of a deceased person discov-
ers that at the time of death the individual was afflicted with Lyme or
other tick-borne diseases they shall report the case promptly to the
Health Department.

              

Section 2: Establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In August 2017, the Senate Task Force on Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases,
in conjunction with the Senate Standing Committee on Health conducted a
public hearing regarding the public health threats posed by Lyme and
tick-borne diseases in New York State. In part, the hearing was prompted
by recent infections and deaths in Upstate counties of Powassan virus, a
deadly tick-borne infection that has continued to be identified through
surveillance by the Health Department.

At the hearing, the Commissioner of Health, and other Department staff,
indicated that the current statistics on Lyme and tick-borne infections
may not include total deaths because these infections exacerbate pre-ex-
isting conditions or may not be listed as the precipitating cause of
death. Nevertheless, these infections seriously compromise patient
health and have been noted by public health authorities to pose fatal
risks. As such, it is important that in cases where Lyme and other tick-
borne illnesses underlie the primary cause of death, that such cases are
reported as infections to the Health Department for appropriate surveil-
lance and statistic accounting.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.