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

                                  2068

                       2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            January 10, 2013
                               ___________

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, as
amended by chapter 153 of the laws  of  2011,  is  amended  to  read  as
follows:
  4. (a) The medical certificate shall be made, dated, and signed by the
physician,  A  PHYSICIAN  ASSISTANT  ACTING  UNDER  THE SUPERVISION OF A
PHYSICIAN or THE nurse practitioner, 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  declares  indefinite shall be returned to the physician, A
PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT ACTING UNDER THE SUPERVISION  OF  A  PHYSICIAN,  THE
nurse  practitioner,  or  THE  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  amended  by  chapter
153 of the laws of 2011, 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

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD02576-01-3
              

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the certificate to the physician  [or],  THE  nurse  practitioner  OR  A
PHYSICIAN  ASSISTANT  ACTING  UNDER  THE  SUPERVISION  OF A PHYSICIAN in
attendance, or a physician [or], A nurse  practitioner  OR  A  PHYSICIAN
ASSISTANT  ACTING  UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN acting in his or
her behalf, who shall promptly certify to the facts  of  death,  provide
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 title can be  met.  A
CERTIFICATE  CERTIFIED TO AND SIGNED BY A PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT IN ACCORD-
ANCE WITH THIS SECTION SHALL HAVE THE SAME FORCE AND EFFECT AS A CERTIF-
ICATE SIGNED BY A PHYSICIAN.
  S 3. Subdivision (b) of section 4142 of  the  public  health  law,  as
amended  by  chapter  153  of  the  laws  of 2011, is amended to read as
follows:
  (b) present the certificate promptly to  the  attending  physician,  A
PHYSICIAN  ASSISTANT  UNDER  THE SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN or THE nurse
practitioner, 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  coron-
ers  or  medical  examiners, to the person in charge of such hospital or
his or her designated  representative,  who  shall  obtain  the  medical
certificate  of death as prescribed in section four thousand one hundred
forty-one-a of this title;
  S 4. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of  section  4144  of  the  public
health law, as amended by chapter 153 of the laws of 2011, 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  of  this  section,  shall  be issued by the said registrar of vital
statistics, upon request by telephone of a licensed funeral director  or
undertaker  who  holds  a  certificate  of death signed by the attending
physician [or], THE ATTENDING nurse practitioner OR A PHYSICIAN  ASSIST-
ANT  UNDER  THE  SUPERVISION  OF  A  PHYSICIAN,  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, as amended by chapter 153 of the laws of 2011,
are amended to read as follows:
  Fetal death certificates; form and content; physicians, nurse  practi-
tioners, PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS, midwives, and hospital administrators.
  2.  In  each  case  where  a physician [or], A nurse practitioner OR A
PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN was in  attend-
ance  at  or after a fetal death, it is the duty of such physician [or],
nurse practitioner OR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT 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-midwife was in attendance at a fetal
death it 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],
A  nurse  practitioner OR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A

S. 2068                             3

PHYSICIAN as provided in subdivision two of this section shall be treat-
ed 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], THE
nurse practitioner OR THE PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A
PHYSICIAN in attendance, or a physician [or], A  nurse  practitioner  OR
THE  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 certif-
icate, 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 title can be met.
  S  6.  The  section  heading  and subdivision 1 of section 4171 of the
public health law, as amended by chapter 153 of the laws  of  2011,  are
amended to read as follows:
  Records;  duties of physicians, nurse practitioners, PHYSICIAN ASSIST-
ANTS, and others to furnish information.  1. Physicians,  nurse  practi-
tioners,  PHYSICIAN  ASSISTANTS  UNDER  THE  SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN,
nurse-midwives, funeral directors, undertakers 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 153 of the laws of 2011, 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, is necessary  for  legal,  judicial,  or  other  proper
purposes,  and, after search by the commissioner or his or her represen-
tatives, it appears that no such certificate of birth or death was  made
and filed as provided by this article, then the commissioner shall imme-
diately  require  the physician, nurse practitioner, 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 is
living, to obtain and file at once with the local registrar such certif-
icate in as complete form as the lapse of time will permit.
  3. If the physician, nurse practitioner, PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT UNDER THE
SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN, nurse-midwife, funeral director,  or  under-
taker  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, nurse practitioner, 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

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of  limitations,  if  he  or  she 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.