Bill Text: IL SB3498 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Chaptered

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Bill Title: Amends the Vital Records Act. Provides that "certifying health care professional" includes a physician assistant. Defines "physician assistant". Provides that in the absence of a certifying health care professional or with his or her approval, a medical certification may be completed and signed by a physician assistant.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-2)

Status: (Passed) 2022-05-13 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 102-0844 [SB3498 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-SB3498-Chaptered.html

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Public Act 102-0844
SB3498 Enrolled LRB102 24198 CPF 34962 b
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.)