00 HOUSE BILL NO. 383                                                                                                    
01 "An Act relating to expected deaths that occur at home or in a health care                                              
02 facility."                                                                                                              
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04    * Section 1.  AS 08.68.395(a) is amended to read:                                                                  
05  (a)  A registered nurse licensed under this chapter may make a determination                                          
06 and pronouncement of death of a person under the following circumstances:                                               
07   (1)  an attending physician has documented in the person's medical or                                                
08 clinical record that the person's death is anticipated due to illness, infirmity, or disease ,                         
09 and the documentation includes an agreement by the physician to sign the death                                          
10 certificate if the death occurs as anticipated ; this prognosis  and agreement are  [IS]                             
11 valid for purposes of this section for no more than 120 days from the date of the                                       
12 documentation;                                                                                                          
13   (2)  at the time of documentation under (1) of this subsection, the                                                  
14 physician authorized in writing a specific registered nurse or nurses to make a                                         
01 determination and pronouncement of the person's death; however, if the person is in                                     
02 a health care facility and the health care facility has complied with (d) of this section,                              
03 the physician may authorize all nurses employed by the facility to make a                                               
04 determination and pronouncement of the person's death.                                                                  
05    * Sec. 2.  AS 08.68.395(b) is amended to read:                                                                     
06  (b)  A registered nurse who has determined and pronounced death under this                                            
07 section shall document the clinical criteria for the determination and pronouncement                                    
08 in the person's medical or clinical record and notify the physician who determined that                                 
09 the prognosis for the patient was for an anticipated death.  The registered nurse shall                                 
10  provide to the person who will  sign the death certificate [, WHICH MUST                                             
11 INCLUDE] the                                                                                                            
12   (1)  name of the deceased;                                                                                           
13   (2)  presence of a contagious disease, if known; and                                                                 
14   (3)  date and time of death.                                                                                         
15    * Sec. 3.  AS 12.65 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                    
16  Sec. 12.65.007.  No duty to notify peace officer of an expected home death.                                          
17 (a)  Notwithstanding AS 12.65.005(a), a person authorized to determine and pronounce                                 
18 death who attends a death or has knowledge of a death is not required to notify a                                       
19 peace officer of the death if                                                                                           
20   (1)  the death was expected to occur due to the dead person's state of                                               
21 health before death;                                                                                                    
22   (2)  the death occurred at the dead person's home; and                                                               
23   (3)  a form signed by the dead person's physician concerning the                                                     
24 physician's expectation that the death would occur due to the person's state of health                                  
25 and that it would occur at home was, at the time of death, on file with the state                                       
26 medical examiner.                                                                                                       
27  (b)  This section does not prohibit a person from notifying the state medical                                         
28 examiner of a death if, in the person's opinion, a death investigation under                                            
29 AS 12.65.020 and 12.65.025 may be appropriate due to suspicious or unusual                                              
30 circumstances.