S-0555.2 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 5739
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 56th Legislature 1999 Regular Session
By Senators Thibaudeau and Deccio
Read first time 02/05/1999. Referred to Committee on Health & Long‑Term Care.
AN ACT Relating to certificates of death or fetal death; and amending RCW 70.58.170 and 70.58.180.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 70.58.170 and 1979 ex.s. c 162 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
The funeral director or person in charge of interment shall file the certificate of death or fetal death. In preparing such certificate, the funeral director or person in charge of interment shall obtain and enter on the certificate such personal data as the certificate requires from the person or persons best qualified to supply them. He or she shall present the certificate of death to the physician, physician's assistant, or advanced registered nurse practitioner last in attendance upon the deceased, or, if the deceased died without medical attendance, to the health officer, coroner, or prosecuting attorney having jurisdiction, who shall thereupon certify the cause of death according to his or her best knowledge and belief and shall sign the certificate of death or fetal death within two days after being presented with the certificate unless good cause for not signing the certificate within the two days can be established. He or she shall present the certificate of fetal death to the physician, physician's assistant, advanced registered nurse practitioner, midwife, or other person in attendance at the fetal death, who shall certify the fetal death and such medical data pertaining thereto as he or she can furnish.
Sec. 2. RCW 70.58.180 and 1961 ex.s. c 5 s 14 are each amended to read as follows:
If the death occurred without medical attendance, the funeral director or person in charge of interment shall notify the coroner, or prosecuting attorney if there is no coroner in the county. If the circumstances suggest that the death or fetal death was caused by unlawful or unnatural causes or if there is no local health officer with jurisdiction, the coroner, or if none, the prosecuting attorney shall complete and sign the certification, noting upon the certificate that no physician, physician's assistant, or advanced registered nurse practitioner was in attendance at the time of death. In case of any death without medical attendance in which there is no suspicion of death from unlawful or unnatural causes, the local health officer or his or her deputy, the coroner and if none, the prosecuting attorney, shall complete and sign the certification, noting upon the certificate that no physician, physician's assistant, or advanced registered nurse practitioner was in attendance at the time of death, and noting the cause of death without the holding of an inquest or performing of an autopsy or post mortem, but from statements of relatives, persons in attendance during the last sickness, persons present at the time of death or other persons having adequate knowledge of the facts.
The cause of death, the manner and mode in which death occurred, as noted by the coroner or if none, the prosecuting attorney or the health officer and incorporated in the death certificate filed with the bureau of vital statistics of the board of health shall be the legally accepted manner and mode by which the deceased came to his or her death and shall be the legally accepted cause of death.
--- END ---