No. HB 819
Filed under Public Health & Safety.
Medical Examiners' Duties; Specifies autopsy requirements for certain cases involving sudden & unexpected deaths in young individuals; requires medical examiners to document certain information in autopsy reports for such cases; requires medical examiners to report specified cases to national Sudden Unexpected Infant Death & Sudden Death in Young Case Registry in accordance with protocols established by DOH & United States Centers for Disease Control & Prevention; requires department to impose certain administrative penalties against medical examiners for failure to report such cases in specified timeframe; provides that compliance with specified provisions is deemed permissible disclosure for purposes of state & federal medical privacy laws.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDWhen an infant or child dies suddenly and unexpectedly - including SIDS, SUID, or suspected SDY - the autopsy must now include microscopic and toxicology studies plus a review of immunization and medical records from the past, not just cause-of-death findings.
For suspected Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome, the same expanded autopsy applies at any age, not just to young people, and the examiner must record any immunizations or emergency treatments given within 90 days of death.
Medical examiners must also report every qualifying case involving someone under 20 to a national CDC and NIH death registry within 30 days, or face a fine - up to $1,000 for a first miss and $5,000 after that.
Repeated failures go to the Medical Examiners Commission for discipline, which can include suspending or dismissing the examiner, though complying with these reporting duties itself counts as permissible disclosure under HIPAA and other privacy laws.
AIFor any infant or child who dies suddenly and unexpectedly, including SIDS or SUID cases, the medical examiner must run microscopic and toxicology studies and review the child's immunization and medical history, not just determine cause of death.
AIThe same expanded autopsy - microscopic and toxicology studies plus an immunization and medical-record review - is required for any suspected Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome case regardless of the decedent's age, not only for young people.
AIA district medical examiner who fails to report a qualifying SIDS, SUID, SDY, or SADS case involving someone under 20 to the national registry within 30 days faces a fine, rising to $5,000 for a second miss, and repeated failures go to the Medical Examiners Commission for possible suspension or removal.
AIThe medical examiner must record in the autopsy report any immunizations or emergency medical countermeasures the decedent received in the 90 days before death, for both the infant or child cases and suspected SADS cases.
AIA medical examiner who reports and documents these cases as required cannot be held liable under HIPAA or other state and federal medical privacy laws for making that disclosure.