NV Death & Birth Certificate Changes
LCB R111-22 would change jurisdiction of reporting parties and cause of death determination on death certs. And changes to some birth certs.
The Nevada Department of Public and Behavioral Health (NV-DPBH) is trying to make changes to Nevada law on how death certificates are recorded including “cause of death” determinations and to the chain of jurisdiction for recording deaths. It further would make changes to the process for issuance of replacement and delayed birth certificates. LCB R111-22, which details these proposed changes to Nevada Administrative Code in NAC Chapter 440: Vital Statistics; Registration of Births and Deaths has been scheduled for PUBLIC WORKSHOP on November 14 followed by PUBLIC HEARING on December 2 during the regular State Board of Health (BOH) meeting. Once voted on and approved by the BOH, these changes would go before the state legislature for approval after which they would be recorded as new laws. If brought to the legislature prior to the regular legislative session in 2023 which commences on February 6, these changes would be heard and voted on by the 12 member Legislative Commission (50% D, 50% R). A majority vote would be required.
The proposed changes are summarized below:
replacement birth certs will require “all parent(s)” to provide the state registrar with “proof of valid photo identification” and changes requirement from one parent to “all parents”
changes timeline for initiating death certificates from 48 hours to 24 hours
moves responsibility for determining Cause of Death from coroners to primary care physicians
alters existing immediate and underlying cause of death reporting (see image below) to include up to 3 underlying causes that must support immediate cause
gender identity or expression as provided by the informant shall be used by the funeral director or designee on death certs with options being Male (M), Female (F), Non-Binary (X) or Unknown (U)
changes the requirements and process for obtaining delayed birth certificates
I personally don’t have any insight or opinion on the changes being sought for replacement and delayed birth certificate issuance, but the death certificate recording changes do raise alarm. Given the universal fudging of covid death numbers over the past couple of years, I fear that this could allow continued fudgery of stats and data. It concerns me greatly that this would transfer jurisdiction over death certificate completion from county officials to medical professionals in most, if not all cases. Given that iatrogenesis (medical error) is the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States today; will this update allow the proverbial fox to guard that henhouse?
I have to wonder why it seems as though they are trying to quickly push this through without fanfare and without public and stakeholder participation by scheduling the workshop and the hearing with little advance notice and so quickly concurrent.
I further wonder where these proposed changes originated. According to the Public Hearing notice NVDPBH claims that they were asked to update this law by the Nevada Legislative Commission Sunset Subcommittee. I thoroughly reviewed agendas and even watched some of the past meetings online and cannot find the source for this claim. There was a presentation made to this committee by Ms. Jennifer Kandt, Executive Director of the Nevada Funeral & Cemetery Services Board on January 26, 2022 titled Delays in Death Reporting . This presentation does not support the changes proposed with LCB111-22 because this presentation claims that delays in death reporting are due to doctors’ failure to complete the certificates. The proposed changes take responsibility away from the local coroner’s office and move it onto doctors in more cases than current law requires. Putting more responsiblity to prepare death certs on doctors. The same doctors that according to this report are the primary cause of delays in death reporting. This makes no sense.
If you know a coroner, medical examiner, mortician or a funeral director please share this article with them. Particularly if they live and practice in Nevada. We’d like to get their thoughts on LCB111-22 to determine whether this is legislation that we need to mobilize our proverbial army to fight against. Time is critical. Thanks!
Public Workshop MONDAY NOV. 14 11:00 AM conducted on site in person in Carson City and Las Vegas and via videoconference or by telephone for oral comments and questions. Written testimony can be submitted any time prior to the meeting by snail mail or by fax.
Public Hearing FRIDAY DEC. 2 9:00 AM conducted via videoconference with in-person hearing rooms in Carson City and Las Vegas to make oral public comment/testimony. Written testimony must be submitted by snail mail no later than November 25.