HOUSE BILL REPORT

SB 6293

BYSenators Deccio, Kreidler, Newhouse, Vognild, Johnson, Wojahn, Smith, Niemi, Nelson, Halsan, Kiskaddon, Fleming, Sellar, Rinehart, Stratton, Garrett and von Reichbauer

Revising provisions for activities of registered nurses.

House Committe on Health Care

Majority Report:  Do pass.  (9)

      Signed by Representatives Braddock, Chair; Day, Vice Chair; Bristow, Brooks, Bumgarner, Lewis, Lux, Sprenkle and Vekich.

House Staff:John Welsh (786-7133)

AS PASSED HOUSE FEBRUARY 29, 1988

BACKGROUND:

Currently, the registered nursing practice act (Chapter 18.88 RCW) does not provide specific authority for registered nurses to pronounce death.  In practice pronouncing death involves an assessment of a person's vital signs such as the presence of a pulse, reflex and ocular assessment and measuring blood pressure.  If vital signs indicate death, a notation is made on the patient's chart and the body is removed for disposition.

SUMMARY:

Registered nurses are not prohibited from determining and pronouncing death.

Fiscal Note:      Not requested.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Robert Ball, Washington State Nurses Association.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    Physicians are often not present at times and in places, such as nursing homes, when a patient expires.  Nurses are obliged to call for resuscitation in futile cases when a deceased patient is discovered.  Nurses are qualified to determine and assess vital signs, and recognize a state of death.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.