Public Act 0844 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB3498 Enrolled LRB102 24198 CPF 34962 b

Public Act 102-0844

AN ACT concerning health.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Vital Records Act is amended by changing Sections 1 and 18 as follows:

(410 ILCS 535/1) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 73-1)

Sec. 1. As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Vital records" means records of births, deaths, fetal deaths, marriages, dissolution of marriages, and data related thereto.

(2) "System of vital records" includes the registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital records, and activities related thereto.

(3) "Filing" means the presentation of a certificate, report, or other record provided for in this Act, of a birth, death, fetal death, adoption, marriage, or dissolution of marriage, for registration by the Office of Vital Records.

(4) "Registration" means the acceptance by the Office of Vital Records and the incorporation in its official records of certificates, reports, or other records provided for in this Act, of births, deaths, fetal deaths, adoptions, marriages, or dissolution of marriages.

(5) "Live birth" means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which after such separation 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.

(6) "Fetal death" means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from the uterus of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, and which is not due to an abortion as defined in Section 1-10 of the Reproductive Health Act. The death is indicated by the fact that after such separation the fetus 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.

(7) "Dead body" means a lifeless human body or parts of such body or bones thereof from the state of which it may reasonably be concluded that death has occurred.

(8) "Final disposition" means the burial, cremation, or other disposition of a dead human body or fetus or parts thereof.

(9) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine in Illinois or any other state.

(10) "Institution" means any establishment, public or private, which provides in-patient medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment, or nursing, custodial, or domiciliary care to 2 or more unrelated individuals, or to which persons are committed by law.

(11) "Department" means the Department of Public Health of the State of Illinois.

(12) "Director" means the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

(13) "Licensed health care professional" means a person licensed to practice as a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant in Illinois or any other state.

(14) "Licensed mental health professional" means a person who is licensed or registered to provide mental health services by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation or a board of registration duly authorized to register or grant licenses to persons engaged in the practice of providing mental health services in Illinois or any other state.

(15) "Intersex condition" means a condition in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy or chromosome pattern that does not fit typical definitions of male or female.

(16) "Homeless person" means an individual who meets the definition of "homeless" under Section 103 of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302) or an individual residing in any of the living situations described in 42 U.S.C. 11434a(2).

(17) "Advanced practice registered nurse" means: (i) an advanced practice registered nurse with full practice authority; or (ii) an advanced practice registered nurse with a collaborative agreement with a physician who has delegated the completion of death certificates.

(18) "Certifying health care professional" means a physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse.

(19) "Physician assistant" means a physician assistant who practices in accordance with a written collaborative agreement that includes the completion of death certificates.

(Source: P.A. 101-13, eff. 6-12-19; 102-257, eff. 1-1-22.)

(410 ILCS 535/18) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 73-18)

Sec. 18. (1) Each death which occurs in this State shall be registered by filing a death certificate with the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred or the body was found, within 7 days after such death (within 5 days if the death occurs prior to January 1, 1989) and prior to cremation or removal of the body from the State, except when death is subject to investigation by the coroner or medical examiner.

(a) For the purposes of this Section, if the place of death is unknown, a death certificate shall be filed in the registration district in which a dead body is found, which shall be considered the place of death.

(b) When a death occurs on a moving conveyance, the place where the body is first removed from the conveyance shall be considered the place of death and a death certificate shall be filed in the registration district in which such place is located.

(c) The funeral director who first assumes custody of a dead body shall be responsible for filing a completed death certificate. He or she shall obtain the personal data from the next of kin or the best qualified person or source available; he or she shall enter on the certificate the name, relationship, and address of the informant; he or she shall enter the date, place, and method of final disposition; he or she shall affix his or her own signature and enter his or her address; and shall present the certificate to the person responsible for completing the medical certification of cause of death. The person responsible for completing the medical certification of cause of death must note the presence of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, clostridium difficile, or vancomycin-resistant enterococci if it is a contributing factor to or the cause of death. Additional multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) may be added to this list by the Department by rule.

(2) The medical certification shall be completed and signed within 48 hours after death by the certifying health care professional who, within 12 months prior to the date of the patient's death, was treating or managing treatment of the patient's illness or condition which resulted in death, except when death is subject to the coroner's or medical examiner's investigation. In the absence of the certifying health care professional or with his or her approval, the medical certificate may be completed and signed by his or her associate physician or advanced practice registered nurse, physician assistant, the chief medical officer of the institution in which death occurred, or by the physician who performed an autopsy upon the decedent.

(3) When a death occurs without medical attendance, or when it is otherwise subject to the coroner's or medical examiner's investigation, the coroner or medical examiner shall be responsible for the completion of a coroner's or medical examiner's certificate of death and shall sign the medical certification within 48 hours after death, except as provided by regulation in special problem cases. If the decedent was under the age of 18 years at the time of his or her death, and the death was due to injuries suffered as a result of a motor vehicle backing over a child, or if the death occurred due to the power window of a motor vehicle, the coroner or medical examiner must send a copy of the medical certification, with information documenting that the death was due to a vehicle backing over the child or that the death was caused by a power window of a vehicle, to the Department of Children and Family Services. The Department of Children and Family Services shall (i) collect this information for use by Child Death Review Teams and (ii) compile and maintain this information as part of its Annual Child Death Review Team Report to the General Assembly.

(3.5) The medical certification of cause of death shall expressly provide an opportunity for the person completing the certification to indicate that the death was caused in whole or in part by a dementia-related disease, Parkinson's Disease, or Parkinson-Dementia Complex.

(4) When the deceased was a veteran of any war of the United States, the funeral director shall prepare a "Certificate of Burial of U. S. War Veteran", as prescribed and furnished by the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, and submit such certificate to the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs monthly.

(5) When a death is presumed to have occurred in this State but the body cannot be located, a death certificate may be prepared by the State Registrar upon receipt of an order of a court of competent jurisdiction which includes the finding of facts required to complete the death certificate. Such death certificate shall be marked "Presumptive" and shall show on its face the date of the registration and shall identify the court and the date of the judgment.

(Source: P.A. 102-257, eff. 1-1-22.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2023