| 6 | 6 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 7 | 7 | | AN ACT |
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| 8 | 8 | | To amend Code Section 45-16-24 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to |
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| 9 | 9 | | 1 |
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| 10 | 10 | | notification of suspicious or unusual deaths, court ordered medical examiner's inquiry, and2 |
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| 11 | 11 | | written report of inquiry, so as to revise the period for which an individual had not been seen3 |
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| 12 | 12 | | by a physician prior to death to be considered an unattended death; to provide that deaths in4 |
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| 13 | 13 | | long-term care facilities under certain circumstances shall not be considered unattended5 |
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| 14 | 14 | | deaths; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.6 |
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| 15 | 15 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:7 |
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| 16 | 16 | | SECTION 1.8 |
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| 17 | 17 | | Code Section 45-16-24 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to notification9 |
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| 18 | 18 | | of suspicious or unusual deaths, court ordered medical examiner's inquiry, and written report10 |
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| 19 | 19 | | of inquiry, is amended by revising subsection (a) as follows:11 |
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| 20 | 20 | | "(a) When any individual dies in any county in this state:12 |
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| 21 | 21 | | (1) As a result of violence;13 |
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| 22 | 22 | | (2) By suicide or casualty;14 |
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| 23 | 23 | | (3) Suddenly when in apparent good health;15 |
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| 24 | 24 | | (4) In any suspicious or unusual manner, with particular attention to those individuals16 |
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| 25 | 25 | | 16 years of age and under;17 |
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| 26 | 26 | | S. B. 348 |
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| 28 | 28 | | (5) After birth but before seven years of age if the death is unexpected or unexplained; |
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| 29 | 29 | | 18 |
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| 30 | 30 | | (6) As a result of an execution carried out pursuant to the imposition of the death penalty19 |
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| 31 | 31 | | under Article 2 of Chapter 10 of Title 17;20 |
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| 32 | 32 | | (7) When an inmate of a state hospital or a state, county, or city penal institution;21 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (8) After having been admitted to a hospital in an unconscious state and without22 |
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| 34 | 34 | | regaining consciousness within 24 hours of admission;23 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (9) As a result of an apparent drug overdose;24 |
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| 36 | 36 | | (10) Who is a pregnant female or a female who was pregnant within 365 days prior to25 |
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| 37 | 37 | | such female's death; provided, however, that this paragraph shall not apply to a female26 |
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| 38 | 38 | | whose death resulted from an incidental or accidental cause, including a motor vehicle27 |
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| 39 | 39 | | accident, or from any other event or condition where it is apparent that the death was not28 |
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| 40 | 40 | | causally related to the care of or physiology of pregnancy or its maintenance; or29 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (11) When unattended by a physician,30 |
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| 42 | 42 | | it shall be the duty of any law enforcement officer or other person having knowledge of31 |
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| 43 | 43 | | such death to notify immediately the coroner or county medical examiner of the county in32 |
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| 44 | 44 | | which the acts or events resulting in the death occurred or the body is found. For purposes33 |
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| 45 | 45 | | of paragraph (11) of this subsection, no individual shall be deemed to have died unattended34 |
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| 46 | 46 | | by a physician when the death occurred while he or she was a patient of a hospice licensed35 |
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| 47 | 47 | | under Article 9 of Chapter 7 of Title 31. For purposes of paragraph (11) of this subsection,36 |
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| 48 | 48 | | an individual shall be deemed to have died unattended by a physician when any such37 |
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| 49 | 49 | | individual had not been seen or treated by a physician within the 180 |
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| 50 | 50 | | 60 days prior to such38 |
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| 51 | 51 | | individual's death for a condition or illness likely to have caused or contributed to such39 |
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| 52 | 52 | | individual's death. For purposes of paragraph (11) of this subsection, no individual shall40 |
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| 53 | 53 | | be deemed to have died unattended by a physician when the death occurred while he or she41 |
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| 54 | 54 | | was a resident of a long-term care facility, as defined in Code Section 31-8-51, if the42 |
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| 55 | 55 | | physician had seen or treated the resident within the 90 days prior to the individual's death."43 |
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| 56 | 56 | | S. B. 348 |
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