STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2141
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 17, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PEOPLES-STOKES, ENGLEBRIGHT -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to death, burial and
removal permits
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section
2 4142-a to read as follows:
3 § 4142-a. Death certificates; unclaimed cadavers and anatomical
4 donations for educational purposes. An institution authorized by arti-
5 cle forty-two or forty-three of this chapter to receive unclaimed cadav-
6 ers or anatomical gifts for educational purposes that elects to file
7 death certificates, shall:
8 (a) obtain the personal and statistical particulars required for the
9 certificate of death from a competent person acquainted with the facts
10 and qualified to supply them and enter them on the certificate together
11 with the name and address of his or her informant;
12 (b) present the certificate promptly to attending physician or nurse
13 practitioner who shall forthwith certify to the facts of death, provide
14 the medical information required by the certificate and sign the medical
15 certificate of death, or to the coroner or medical examiner in those
16 cases where so required by this article or, when a death occurs in a
17 hospital, except in those cases where certificates are issued by coron-
18 ers or medical examiners, to the person in charge of such hospital or
19 his or her designated representative, who shall obtain the medical
20 certificate of death as prescribed in section forty-one hundred forty-
21 one-a of this title;
22 (c) state the facts required on the certificate of death relative to
23 the date and place of burial, cremation or removal, over his signature
24 and with his or her address; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03214-01-7
A. 2141 2
1 (d) prior to the disposition of the remains, file the certificate of
2 death with the registrar of the district in which the death occurred as
3 provided in section forty-one hundred forty of this title.
4 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 4140 of the public health law is amended
5 to read as follows:
6 2. If the certificate of death is properly executed and complete, the
7 registrar of the district in which the death occurred shall then issue a
8 burial or removal permit to the funeral director [or], undertaker, or an
9 institution authorized by article forty-two or forty-three of this chap-
10 ter to receive unclaimed cadavers or anatomical gifts for educational
11 purposes. In case the death occurred from a disease which is designated
12 in the sanitary code as a communicable disease, no permit for the
13 removal or other disposition of the body shall be issued by the regist-
14 rar, except to a funeral director or undertaker licensed in accordance
15 with the provisions of this chapter, under such conditions as may be
16 prescribed in the sanitary code.
17 § 3. Subdivision 1 and paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 4144
18 of the public health law, as amended by chapter 378 of the laws of 2016,
19 are amended to read as follows:
20 1. The body of any person whose death occurs in this state, or which
21 shall be found dead herein shall not be interred, deposited in a vault
22 or tomb, cremated or otherwise disposed of, or removed from this state,
23 or be temporarily held pending further disposition more than seventy-two
24 hours after death, unless a permit for burial, removal, or other dispo-
25 sition thereof shall have been properly issued by the registrar of vital
26 statistics of the registration district in which the death occurred or
27 the body was found; provided, however, that an institution authorized by
28 article forty-two or forty-three of this chapter to receive unclaimed
29 cadavers or anatomical gifts for educational purposes may apply for and
30 receive such permit or a licensed funeral director may apply for and
31 receive such permit on behalf of any person or institution authorized by
32 article forty-two or forty-three of this chapter to receive unclaimed
33 cadavers or anatomical gifts.
34 (b) The funeral director [or], undertaker or an institution authorized
35 by article forty-two or forty-three of this chapter to receive unclaimed
36 cadavers or anatomical gifts for educational purposes who shall make any
37 removal before a permit is issued by the registrar, shall return the
38 body to the registration district where death occurred, whenever the
39 coroner, medical examiner, or district attorney shall request such
40 return of the body for investigation or post-mortem examination.
41 § 4. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision 2 and subdivision 4 of
42 section 4145 of the public health law, paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 as
43 amended by chapter 543 of the laws of 2003, paragraph (b) of subdivision
44 2 as amended by chapter 198 of the laws of 2005, are amended to read as
45 follows:
46 (a) The funeral director [or], undertaker or an institution authorized
47 by article forty-two or forty-three of this chapter to receive unclaimed
48 cadavers or anatomical gifts for educational purposes shall deliver the
49 burial permit to the person in charge of the place of burial or other
50 disposition before interring or otherwise disposing of the body or shall
51 attach the removal or transit permit to the box containing the body,
52 when shipped by any transportation company, which permit shall accompany
53 the remains to its destination, where, if within this state, it shall be
54 delivered to the person in charge of the place of burial or other dispo-
55 sition.
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1 (b) Any person or other entity owning, operating, managing, or desig-
2 nated to receive the body of a deceased person at a place of burial,
3 cremation, or other final disposition in this state, who receives the
4 body of a deceased person, shall provide a receipt for the body to the
5 funeral director, undertaker, an institution authorized by article
6 forty-two or forty-three of this chapter to receive unclaimed cadavers
7 or anatomical gifts for educational purposes or registered resident who
8 delivered such body. Each receipt shall (i) be endorsed by both such
9 person and the funeral director, undertaker or registered resident, (ii)
10 indicate the date the body was delivered, (iii) include the name of the
11 funeral director, undertaker, an institution authorized by article
12 forty-two or forty-three of this chapter to receive unclaimed cadavers
13 or anatomical gifts for educational purposes or registered resident
14 delivering the body and the registration number of such funeral direc-
15 tor, undertaker or registered resident, (iv) include the name of the
16 registered funeral firm, the funeral director, undertaker, an institu-
17 tion authorized by article forty-two or forty-three of this chapter to
18 receive unclaimed cadavers or anatomical gifts for educational purposes
19 or registered resident represents, (v) include the name of the deceased
20 person as it appears on the burial, cremation, or transit permit, and
21 (vi) include the name of the owner, operator, manager, or person in
22 charge of the place of burial, cremation, or other final disposition who
23 received the body of the deceased person. A copy of such receipt shall
24 be retained by the owner, operator, manager, or person in charge of the
25 place of burial, cremation, or other final disposition for a period of
26 not less than four years, and shall be made available for inspection by
27 the division of cemeteries during normal business hours. The original
28 copy of every such receipt shall be retained by the licensed funeral
29 firm for a period of not less than four years pursuant to the rules and
30 regulations of the department governing the maintenance of records.
31 4. When burying or otherwise disposing of the body of a deceased
32 person in a cemetery or burial place having no person in charge, the
33 funeral director [or], undertaker or an institution authorized by arti-
34 cle forty-two or forty-three of this chapter to receive unclaimed cadav-
35 ers or anatomical gifts for educational purposes shall (a) sign the
36 burial or removal permit, giving the date of burial; (b) write across
37 the face of the permit the words "No person in charge;" and (c) file the
38 burial or removal permit within three days with the registrar of the
39 district in which the cemetery is located.
40 § 5. Section 4212 of the public health law is amended by adding a new
41 subdivision 4 to read as follows:
42 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an institution author-
43 ized by section forty-two hundred eleven of this title may file certif-
44 icates and permits pursuant to sections forty-one hundred forty-two,
45 forty-one hundred forty-four and forty-one hundred forty-five of this
46 chapter for any unclaimed cadavers received for educational purposes.
47 The institution shall ensure the individuals filing permits or trans-
48 porting cadavers have the necessary education and training.
49 § 6. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 4302-a
50 to read as follows:
51 § 4302-a. Using anatomical gifts for education. Notwithstanding any
52 other provision of law, an accredited medical school or dental school,
53 college or university, bank or storage facility for education, research,
54 advancement of medical or dental science, therapy or transplant author-
55 ized to receive anatomical donations may file certificates and permits
56 pursuant to sections forty-one hundred forty-two, forty-one hundred
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1 forty-four and forty-one hundred forty-five of this chapter for
2 donations made directly to such institution. The institution shall
3 ensure the individuals filing permits or transporting cadavers have the
4 necessary education and training.
5 § 7. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
6 have become a law.