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Sub. S. B. No. 175 As Reported by the Senate Health, Human Services and Aging CommitteeAs Reported by the Senate Health, Human Services and Aging Committee
127th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2007-2008 |
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Cosponsors:
Senators Clancy, Carey, Schuler, Buehrer, Jacobson, Goodman, Schuring, Gardner
A BILL
To amend sections 3705.01, 3705.16, 3705.20, and
3705.29 and to enact sections 517.071, 759.49,
1721.071, 3727.16, 4731.82, and 4765.57 of the
Revised Code
to enact the Grieving Parents Act,
regarding fetal
death certificates for, and
burials of, the
product of human conception that
suffers a fetal
death.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 3705.01, 3705.16, 3705.20, and
3705.29 be amended and sections 517.071, 759.49, 1721.071,
3727.16, 4731.82, and 4765.57 of the Revised Code be enacted to
read as
follows:
Sec. 517.071. (A) As used in this section, "fetal death" has
the same meaning as in section 3705.01 of
the Revised Code.
(B) A board of township trustees may adopt rules for any
township cemetery over which it has control for the burial,
re-interment, or disinterment of the product of a fetal death.
(C) With regard to the product of a fetal death, on the
request of the mother, a
township cemetery shall inter the
product of the fetal
death in accordance with one of the
following:
(1) In a single grave within the cemetery that contains, or
will contain, the remains of a parent, sibling, or grandparent;
(2) In another location of the cemetery, including a separate
burial ground for infants, on a temporary or permanent basis.
(D) If the mother provides written consent, re-interment or
disinterment of the product of a fetal death buried in
accordance
with division (C)(2) of this section is not subject to
section
517.23 or 517.24 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 759.49. (A) As used in this section, "fetal
death" has
the same meaning as in section 3705.01 of the Revised
Code.
(B) The legislative authority of a municipal corporation
owning a public burial ground or cemetery, whether within or
without the municipal corporation, may pass and provide for the
enforcement of ordinances for the burial, re-interment, or
disinterment of the product of a fetal death in that
public
burial ground or cemetery.
(C) With regard to the product of a fetal death, on the
request of the mother, a
public burial ground or
cemetery shall
inter the product of the
fetal death in accordance with one of
the following:
(1) In a single grave within the public burial ground or
cemetery that contains, or
will contain, the remains of a parent,
sibling, or grandparent;
(2) In another location of the public burial ground or
cemetery, including a separate
burial ground for infants, on a
temporary or permanent basis.
(D) If the mother provides written consent, re-interment or
disinterment of the product of a fetal death buried in
accordance
with division (C)(2) of this section is not subject to
section
517.23 or 517.24 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 1721.071. (A) As used in this section, "fetal death"
has the same meaning as in section 3705.01 of
the Revised Code.
(B) A cemetery company or association may prescribe rules for
the burial, re-interment, or disinterment of the product of a
fetal death.
(C) With regard to the product of a fetal death, on the
request of the mother, a
cemetery company or association shall
inter the product of the
fetal death in accordance with one of
the following:
(1) In a single grave within the cemetery that contains, or
will contain, the remains of a parent, sibling, or grandparent;
(2) In another location of the cemetery, including a separate
burial ground for infants, on a temporary or permanent basis.
(D) If the mother provides written consent, re-interment or
disinterment of the product of a fetal death buried in
accordance
with division (C)(2) of this section is not subject to
section
517.23 or 517.24 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 3705.01. As used in this chapter:
(A) "Live birth" means the complete expulsion or
extraction
from its mother of a product of human conception that
after such
expulsion or extraction breathes or shows any other
evidence of
life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the
umbilical
cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles,
whether or not
the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is
attached.
(B)(1) "Fetal death" means death
prior to
the complete
expulsion or extraction from its
mother of a product
of human
conception of at least twenty weeks
of gestation,, irrespective
of the duration of pregnancy which is not the purposeful
termination of a pregnancy as described in section 2919.11 of the
Revised Code and which
after
such expulsion or extraction does not
breathe or show any
other
evidence of life such as beating of the
heart, pulsation of
the
umbilical cord, or definite movement of
voluntary muscles.
(2) "Stillborn" means that an infant suffered a fetal death
of at least twenty weeks of gestation.
(C)
"Dead body" means a human body or part of a human body
from the condition of which it reasonably may be concluded that
death recently occurred.
(D) "Physician" means a person licensed pursuant to
Chapter
4731. of the Revised Code to practice medicine or surgery
or
osteopathic medicine and surgery.
(E) "Attending physician" means the physician in charge
of
the patient's care for the illness or condition that resulted
in
death.
(F) "Institution" means any establishment, public or
private,
that provides medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or
treatment,
or domiciliary care, to two or more unrelated
individuals, or to
persons committed by law.
(G) "Funeral director" has the meaning given in section
4717.01 of the Revised Code.
(H) "State registrar" means the head of the office of
vital
statistics in the department of health.
(I) "Medical certification" means completion of the
medical
certification portion of the certificate of death or
fetal death
as to the cause of death or fetal death.
(J) "Final disposition" means the interment, cremation,
removal from the state, donation, or other authorized disposition
of a dead body or a
fetal death.
(K) "Interment" means the final disposition of the
remains
of
a dead body by burial or entombment.
(L) "Cremation" means the reduction to ashes of a dead
body.
(M) "Donation" means gift of a dead body to a research
institution or medical school.
(N) "System of vital statistics" means the registration,
collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital
records, the collection of other reports required by this
chapter,
and activities related thereto.
(O) "Vital records" means certificates or reports of
birth,
death, fetal death, marriage, divorce,
dissolution of
marriage,
annulment, and data related thereto and
other documents
maintained
as required by statute.
(P) "File" means the presentation of vital records for
registration by the office of vital statistics.
(Q) "Registration" means the acceptance by the office of
vital statistics and the incorporation of vital records into its
official records.
(R) "Birth record" means a birth certificate that has
been
registered with the office of vital statistics; or, if
registered
prior to the effective date of this section March 16, 1989, with
the
division of
vital statistics; or, if registered prior to the
establishment of
the division of vital statistics, with the
department of health
or a local registrar.
(S) "Certification of birth" means a document issued by
the
director of health or state registrar or a local registrar
under
division (B) of section 3705.23 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 3705.16. (A) For purposes of this section
notwithstanding section 3705.01 of the Revised Code, "fetal death"
does not include death of the product of human conception prior to
twenty weeks of gestation.
(B) Each death or fetal death that occurs in
this state shall
be registered with the local registrar of vital
statistics of the
district in which the death or fetal death
occurred, by the
funeral director or other person in charge of the
final
disposition of the remains. The personal and statistical
information in the death or fetal death certificate shall be
obtained from the best qualified persons or sources available, by
the funeral director or other person in charge of the final
disposition of the remains. The statement of facts relating to
the
disposition of the body and information relative to the armed
services referred to in section 3705.19 of the Revised Code shall
be signed by the funeral director or other person in charge of
the
final disposition of the remains.
(B)(C) The funeral director or
other person in charge of the
final disposition of the remains
shall present the death or fetal
death certificate to the attending physician of the decedent, the
coroner, or the medical examiner, as appropriate for certification
of the cause of death. If a death or fetal death occurs under any
circumstances mentioned in section 313.12 of the Revised Code, the
coroner in the county in which the death occurs, or a deputy
coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner serving in
an equivalent capacity, shall certify the cause of death unless
that death was reported to the coroner, deputy coroner, medical
examiner, or deputy medical examiner and that person, after a
preliminary examination, declined to assert jurisdiction with
respect to the death or fetal death. A physician other than the
coroner in the county in which a death or fetal death occurs, or a
deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner
serving in an equivalent capacity, may certify only those deaths
that occur under natural circumstances.
The medical
certificate of death shall be completed and
signed by the
physician who attended the decedent or by the
coroner or medical examiner, as appropriate, within
forty-eight
hours after the death or fetal death. A coroner or medical
examiner may satisfy the
requirement of signing a medical
certificate showing the cause of
death or fetal death as pending
either by stamping it with a stamp of the
coroner's or medical
examiner's
signature or by signing it in the coroner's or medical
examiner's own hand, but
the coroner or medical examiner shall
sign any other medical certificate of death or supplementary
medical certification in the
coroner's or medical examiner's own
hand.
(C)(D) Any death certificate registered pursuant to this
section
shall contain the social security number of the decedent,
if
available. A
social security
number obtained under this
section is
a public record under
section 149.43 of the Revised
Code.
Sec. 3705.20. A (A) The fetal death of the product of human
conception of at least twenty weeks of gestation shall be
registered on a fetal
death certificate. A
The fetal death of the
product of human conception prior to
twenty weeks of gestation
shall be registered on a fetal death
certificate upon application
by the mother. A fetal death
certificate for the product of human conception prior to twenty
weeks gestation is not proof of a live birth for purposes of
federal, state, and local taxes.
(B) The product of human conception that suffers a fetal
death which occurs of at least twenty weeks of gestation occurring
in Ohio shall not
be interred, deposited in a vault or tomb,
cremated, or otherwise
disposed of by a funeral director or other
person until a fetal
death certificate or provisional death
certificate has been filed
with and a burial permit is issued by
the local registrar of
vital statistics of the registration
district in which the fetal
death occurs, or the body is found.
The
A burial permit for the product of human conception that
suffers a fetal death prior to twenty weeks of gestation shall be
issued by the local registrar of vital statistics of the
registration district in which the fetal death occurs if the
mother files a fetal death certificate with that registrar.
(C)(1) The department of health and
the local registrar shall
keep a separate record and index record
of fetal death
certificates.
(2) The personal or statistical information on the fetal
death
certificate shall be obtained by the funeral director or
other
person in charge of interment or cremation from the best
qualified persons or sources available.
Sec. 3705.29. (A) No person shall do any of the following:
(1) Purposely make any false statement in a certificate,
record, or report required by this chapter or in an application
or
amendment of it, or purposely supply false information with the
intent that that information be used in the preparation of any
such report, record, or certificate, or amendment of it;
(2) Without lawful authority and with intent to deceive,
counterfeit, alter, amend, or mutilate any certificate, record,
or
report required by this chapter or any certified copy of it;
(3) Purposely obtain, possess, use, sell, furnish, or
attempt
to obtain, possess, use, sell, or furnish to another for
the
purpose of deception any certificate, record, or report
required
by this chapter or any certified copy of it, or any
certificate,
record, or report that is counterfeit, altered, or
amended or
false in whole or part;
(4) Purposely obtain, possess, use, sell, furnish, or
attempt
to obtain, possess, use, sell, or furnish to another for
the
purpose of deception any certificate, record, or report
required
by this chapter, or any certified copy of it, that relates to
the
birth of another person, whether living or dead;
(5) Without lawful authority, possess any certificate,
record, or report required by this chapter or any copy of such a
certificate, record, or report, knowing it to have been stolen or
otherwise unlawfully obtained.
(B) No person employed by the office of vital statistics
or a
local registrar shall purposely furnish or possess a birth
record
or certified copy of a birth record with intent that it be
used
for deception.
(C) No person shall do any of the following:
(1) Purposely refuse to provide information required by
this
chapter or rules adopted under it;
(2) Purposely transport out of this state or accept for
interment or other disposition a dead body without a permit
required by this chapter;
(3) Knowingly prepare, issue, sell, or give any record or
certificate that is alleged to be an original vital record or a
certified copy of a vital record if the person knows or has
reason
to know that it is not an original vital record or a
certified
copy of a vital record;
(4) Refuse to comply with the requirements of this chapter
or
violate any of the provisions of this chapter.
(D) No officer or employee of the
department of health shall
knowingly reveal or provide any
information contained in an
adoption file maintained by the
department under section 3705.12
of the
Revised Code to any person, or
knowingly reveal or provide
the contents of an adoption file to
any person, unless authorized
to do so by section 3705.12 of the
Revised Code.
(E) If a death, or a fetal death of at least twenty weeks of
gestation, occurs under any circumstances mentioned in section
313.12 of the Revised Code, the coroner of the county in which the
death or fetal death occurs, or a deputy coroner, medical
examiner, or deputy medical examiner serving in an equivalent
capacity, shall certify the cause of that death unless the death
was reported to the coroner, deputy coroner, medical examiner, or
deputy medical examiner and that person, after a preliminary
examination, declined to assert jurisdiction with respect to the
death or fetal death.
(F) No physician other than the coroner in the county in
which a death, or a fetal death of at least twenty weeks of
gestation, occurs, or a deputy coroner, medical examiner, or
deputy medical examiner serving in an equivalent capacity, may
certify any death or fetal death that occurs under any
circumstances other than natural.
(G) If a death, or a fetal death of at least twenty weeks of
gestation, occurs under any circumstances mentioned in section
313.12 of the Revised Code, no person shall knowingly present a
death or fetal death certificate for the purpose of obtaining
certification of the cause of death to any physician other than
the coroner in the county in which the death or fetal death
occurred, or to a deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy
medical examiner serving in an equivalent capacity, unless that
death or fetal death was reported to the coroner, deputy coroner,
medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner and that person,
after a preliminary examination, declined to assert jurisdiction
with respect to the death or fetal death.
(H) No person, with intent to defraud or knowing that the
person is facilitating a fraud, shall do either of the following:
(1) Certify a cause of death in violation of the prohibition
of division (E) or (F) of this section;
(2) Obtain or attempt to obtain a certification of the cause
of a death or fetal death in violation of the prohibition of
division (G) of this section.
Sec. 3727.16. (A) As used in this section, "fetal death" has
the same meaning as in section 3705.01 of
the Revised Code,
except that it does not include the product of human conception of
at least twenty weeks of gestation.
(B) If a woman presents herself at a hospital as a result of
a fetal death, the hospital shall provide the woman
with the
following information:
(1) The right of the woman to apply for a fetal death
certificate pursuant to section 3705.20 of the
Revised Code;
(2) The hospital's procedures for disposing of the product of
a fetal death.
A hospital or hospital employee may present the information
required by this division through oral or written means and
document that the information has been provided with a note in the
mother's medical record.
(C) A hospital or hospital employee is immune from civil or
criminal liability or professional disciplinary action with regard
to any action taken in good faith compliance with this section.
Sec. 4731.82. (A) As used in this section:
"Fetal death" has the same meaning as in section
3705.01 of
the Revised Code, except that it does not include the product of
human conception of at least twenty weeks of gestation.
"Physician" means an individual holding a certificate to
practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery
pursuant to this chapter.
(B) If a woman presents herself to a physician as a result of
a fetal death, the physician shall provide the woman
with the
following information:
(1) The right of the woman to apply for a fetal death
certificate pursuant to section 3705.20 of the
Revised Code;
(2) The physician's procedures for disposing of the product
of a fetal death.
A physician may present the information required by this
division through oral or written means and document that the
information has been provided with a note in the mother's medical
record.
(C) A physician is immune from civil or criminal liability or
professional disciplinary action with regard to any action taken
in good faith compliance with this section.
Sec. 4765.57. (A) As used in this section, "fetal death" has
the same meaning as in section 3705.01 of
the Revised Code.
(B) Emergency medical service personnel shall dispose of the
product of a fetal death in the manner set forth for
the
disposition of fetal remains in the "emergency medical
technician-basic: national standard curriculum."
Section 2. That existing sections 3705.01, 3705.16, 3705.20,
and 3705.29 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
Section 3. This act shall be known as "The Grieving Parents
Act."
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