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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 58th Legislature (2022)
HOUSE BILL 3540 By: Caldwell (Chad)
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to physician assistants; amending 63
O.S. 2021, Section 1-317, which relates to death
certificates; permitting physician assistants to sign
the medical certification of a death certificate; and
providing an effective date .
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 63 O.S. 2021, Section 1-317, is
amended to read as follows :
Section 1-317. A. A death certificate for each death which
occurs in this state shall be filed with the State Department of
Health, within three (3) days after such death.
B. The funeral director shall personally sign the deat h
certificate and shall be resp onsible for filing the death
certificate. If the funeral director is not available, the person
acting as such who first assumes custody of a dead body in
accordance with Section 1158 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes
shall personally sign and file the death certificate. The personal
data shall be obtained from the next of kin or the best qualified
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person or source available. The certificate shall be completed as
to personal data and delivered to the attending physician or the
medical examiner responsi ble for completing the medical
certification portion of the certificate of death within twenty -four
(24) hours after the death. No later than July 1, 2012, the
personal data, and no later than July 1, 2017, the medical
certificate portion, shall be entere d into the prescribed electronic
system provided by the State Registrar of Vital Statistics and the
information submitted to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics.
The resultant certificate produced by the electronic system shall be
provided to the phys ician or medical examiner for medical
certification within twenty -four (24) hours after the death.
C. The medical certification shall be completed and signed
within forty-eight (48) hours after death by the physician or
advanced practice registered nurse or physician assistant in charge
of the patient's care for the illness or condition which resulted in
death, except when inquiry as to the cause of death is required by
Section 938 of this title. No later than July 1, 2017, t he medical
certification portion of cer tificate data shall be entered into the
prescribed electronic system provided by the State Registrar of
Vital Statistics and the information submitted to the State
Registrar of Vital Statistics.
D. In the event that the physician or advanced practice
registered nurse or physician assistant in charge of the patient 's
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care for the illness or condition which resulted in death is not in
attendance at the time of death, the medical certification shall be
completed and signed within forty-eight (48) hours after death by
the physician or advanced practice registered nurse or physician
assistant in attendance at the time of death, except:
1. When the patient is under hospice care at the time of death,
the medical certificatio n may be signed by the hospice 's medical
director; and
2. When inquiry as to the cause of deat h is required by Section
938 of this title.
Provided, that such certification, if signed by other than the
attending physician or advanced practice registered nu rse or
physician assistant, shall note on the face the name of the
attending physician or advanced practice registere d nurse and that
the information shown is only as reported.
E. A certifier completing cause of death on a certificate of
death who knows that a lethal drug, overdose or other me ans of
assisting suicide within the meaning of Sections 3141.2 through
3141.4 of this title caused or contributed to the death shall list
that means among the chain of events under cause of death or list it
in the box that describes how the injury occurred . If such means is
in the chain of events under cause of death or in the box that
describes how the injury occurred, the certifier shall indicate
"suicide" as the manner of death.
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SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2022.
58-2-9805 KN 01/06/22