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SENATE
BILL 5739
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Passed
Legislature - 2000 Regular Session
State of Washington 56th
Legislature 1999 Regular Session
By
Read first time 02/05/1999.
Referred to Committee on Health & Long‑Term Care.
Preparing
certificates of death or fetal death.
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.
