Public Act 097-0376
 
HB1658 EnrolledLRB097 08042 RPM 48165 b


  
    AN ACT concerning public 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 
Section 18 as follows:
 



    (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 shall obtain the personal data from the 
    next
of kin or the best qualified person or source 
    available; he shall enter
on the certificate the name, 
    relationship,
and address of his informant; he shall enter 
    the date, place, and method
of final disposition; he shall 
    affix his own signature and enter his 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 physician in charge of the 
patient's care for the
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 physician or 
with his approval, the medical certificate may be
completed and 
signed by his associate physician, 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. 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)

 

    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 
2011.