Bill Text: MI HB4334 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Counties; employees and officers; county medical examiner to establish an elder death review team; allow. Amends secs. 1c, 2 & 3 of 1953 PA 181 (MCL 52.201c et seq.).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 25-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-01 - Printed Bill Filed 02/25/2011 [HB4334 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2011-HB4334-Introduced.html
HOUSE BILL No. 4334
February 24, 2011, Introduced by Reps. Bauer, Darany, Slavens, Smiley, Liss, Santana, Tlaib, Barnett, Irwin, Geiss, Rutledge, Hovey-Wright, Oakes, Dillon, Haugh, Switalski, Segal, Townsend, Durhal, Brunner, Cavanagh, Meadows, McCann and Lipton and referred to the Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors.
A bill to amend 1953 PA 181, entitled
"An act relative to investigations in certain instances of the
causes of death within this state due to violence, negligence or
other act or omission of a criminal nature or to protect public
health; to provide for the taking of statements from injured
persons under certain circumstances; to abolish the office of
coroner and to create the office of county medical examiner in
certain counties; to prescribe the powers and duties of county
medical examiners; to prescribe penalties for violations of the
provisions of this act; and to prescribe a referendum thereon,"
by amending sections 1c, 2, and 3 (MCL 52.201c, 52.202, and
52.203), section 2 as amended by 2004 PA 153 and section 3 as
amended by 2006 PA 569.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec.
1c. (1) The county medical examiner shall be is in
charge
of the office of the county medical examiner and may promulgate
rules
relative to the conduct of his that
office. The county
medical
examiner may delegate any functions of his that office
to a
duly appointed deputy county medical examiner if the deputy county
medical examiner is a licensed physician. If the deputy county
medical examiner is not a licensed physician, his or her functions
shall
be are limited as provided by law.
(2) The county medical examiner may establish an elder death
review team. The county medical examiner may develop protocols to
be used by the elder death review team in conducting a preliminary
investigation. If established, in addition to the county medical
examiner or deputy county medical examiner, the elder death review
team may consist of the county prosecutor, physicians and other
health care professionals including pathologists and nurses,
members of relevant state and local law enforcement agencies,
members representing the department of community health who are
involved with the licensing and regulation of long-term care
facilities, members representing the department of human services
who are involved with issues regarding adult protective services,
and others the county medical examiner considers appropriate.
Sec. 2. (1) A county medical examiner or deputy county medical
examiner shall investigate the cause and manner of death of an
individual under each of the following circumstances:
(a) The individual dies by violence.
(b) The individual's death is unexpected.
(c) The individual dies without medical attendance by a
physician, or the individual dies while under home hospice care
without medical attendance by a physician or a registered nurse,
during the 48 hours immediately preceding the time of death, unless
the attending physician, if any, is able to determine accurately
the cause of death.
(d) The individual dies as the result of an abortion, whether
self-induced or otherwise.
(2) If a prisoner in a county or city jail dies while
imprisoned, the county medical examiner or deputy county medical
examiner, upon being notified of the death of the prisoner, shall
examine the body of the deceased prisoner.
(3) If an individual dies while in a long-term care facility
or while receiving medical or palliative care in his or her
residence by or through a hospice, home services agency, or home
health agency and the medical examiner is notified that the death
is unexpected or suspicious or appears to have been caused by abuse
or neglect, the county medical examiner or deputy county medical
examiner, upon being notified of that death, shall conduct an
investigation into the cause and manner of death and, if
established under section 1c, shall report the case to the elder
death review team.
(4) (3)
In conducting an investigation under subsection (1),
or
(2), or (3), a county medical
examiner or deputy county medical
examiner may request the circuit court to issue a subpoena to
produce medical records, books, papers, documents, or other items
related to the death being investigated. The circuit court may
punish failure to obey a subpoena issued under this section as
contempt of court.
(5) (4)
Medical records, books, papers, documents, or other
items that a county medical examiner or deputy county medical
examiner obtains in conducting an investigation under this act,
whether in response to a subpoena or otherwise, are exempt from
disclosure under the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL
15.231 to 15.246.
(6) (5)
As used in this section act:
(a) "Home hospice care" means a program of planned and
continuous hospice care provided by a hospice or a hospice
residence that consists of a coordinated set of services rendered
to an individual at his or her home on a continuous basis for a
disease or condition with a terminal prognosis.
(b) "Long-term care facility" means 1 or more of the
following:
(i) A home for the aged as defined in section 20106 of the
public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.20106.
(ii) An adult foster care facility as defined in section 3 of
the adult foster care facility licensing act, 1979 PA 218, MCL
400.703.
(iii) A nursing home as defined in section 20109 of the public
health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.20109.
(iv) A county medical care facility as defined in section 20104
of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.20104.
(v) A hospital long-term care unit as defined in section 20106
of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.20106.
(c) (b)
"Physician" means a person licensed as a physician
under part 170 or part 175 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368,
MCL 333.17001 to 333.17084 and 333.17501 to 333.17556.
(d) (c)
"Registered nurse" means a person licensed as a
registered professional nurse under part 172 of the public health
code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.17201 to 333.17242.
Sec.
3. (1) Any A physician, and any person an individual in
charge
of any hospital or institution, or any person who shall have
other
individual who has first knowledge of the
death of any person
who
shall have any of the
following shall immediately notify the
county medical examiner or deputy of that fact:
(a) An individual who died suddenly, unexpectedly,
accidentally, violently, or as the result of any suspicious
circumstances. ,
or
(b) An individual who died without medical attendance during
the 48 hours prior to the hour of death unless the attending
physician, if any, is able to determine accurately the cause of
death. ,
or in any case of death due to
(c) An individual who died as the result of what is commonly
known
as an abortion, whether self-induced or otherwise. , shall
notify
the county medical examiner or his or her deputy immediately
of
the death.
(d) An individual who died unexpectedly, under suspicious
circumstances, or as the result of abuse or neglect while a
resident of a long-term care facility or while receiving medical or
palliative care in his or her residence by or through a hospice,
home services agency, or home health agency.
(2)
If the physician, person individual
in charge of any
hospital
or institution, or other person individual
who has first
knowledge
of the death of a person an
individual as described under
subsection (1) has knowledge that there were 2 or more individuals
involved in the same accident who were approximately the same age,
sex, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and race, then he or
she shall make the county medical examiner or his or her deputy
aware of that fact and whether or not any of those individuals
survived that accident when notifying the examiner or deputy of the
death as required under subsection (1). If any of those individuals
survived, the county medical examiner or his or her deputy shall
also be informed which hospital or institution those individuals
were taken to and the hospital or institution shall also be made
aware that the accident involved 2 or more individuals with similar
attributes.
(3) If an elder death review team is established under section
1c, a county medical examiner or deputy who receives notice of a
death of an individual who died unexpectedly, under suspicious
circumstances, or as the result of abuse or neglect while a
resident of a long-term care facility or while receiving medical or
palliative care in his or her residence by or through a hospice,
home services agency, or home health agency shall refer the case to
the elder death review team. Upon receipt of a referral under this
subsection, the elder death review team shall conduct a preliminary
investigation to determine whether the death is unexpected or
suspicious or appears to have been caused by abuse or neglect.
Information obtained under this subsection by an elder death review
team established under section 1c is confidential and may be
disclosed by the elder death review team only to the county medical
examiner, the county prosecutor's office, local law enforcement, or
another elder death review team, as appropriate. The information
obtained under this subsection by an elder death review team
established under section 1c is exempt from disclosure under the
freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.
