An Act To Allow Physician Assistants To Sign Death Certificates
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 0754
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: PERRY, RICHARDSON, MILLER
Amends: 22 MRSA §2842, 22 MRSA §2843, 22 MRSA §2846, 22 MRSA §2901, 22 MRSA §2907

Legislative Document 
No. 754 
H.P.575 
House of Representatives, February 13, 2007 
An Act To Allow Physician Assistants To Sign Death Certificates 
Reference to the Committee on Health and Human Services suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative PERRY of Calais. 
'!J'l~ m·711tU~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representative RICHARDSON of Greenville and 
Representative: MILLER of Somerville. 
Printed on rel:yc led paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 22 MRS A §2842, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2005, c. 359, § 1, is further 
amended to read: 
2. Medical certificate by physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant. 
The medical certification of the cause of death must be completed in typewritten or 
legibly hand-printed style and signed in a timely fashion by a physician ef~ nurse 
practitioner or physician assistant authorized to practice in the State who has knowledge 
of the patient's recent medical condition, in accordance with department regulations and 
other laws detailing who can certify and in what time frame, except when the death falls 
under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner as provided in section 3025. If the patient 
was a resident of a nursing home licensed under section 1817 at the time of death and if 
the health care provider in charge of the patient's care or another health care provider 
designated by the health care provider in charge had not examined the patient within 48 
hours prior to death, or within 2 weeks prior to death in the case of a terminally ill patient, 
the health care provider in charge or another health care provider designated by the health 
care provider in charge shall examine the body prior to completing the certification of 
death process. Any health care provider who fails to complete the medical certification 
of the cause of death fully, in typewritten or legibly hand-printed style and in a timely 
manner, or who fails to examine the body of a nursing home resident prior to certifying 
cause of death as required by this section must be reported to the Board of Licensure in 
Medicine, the Board of Osteopathic Licensure or the State Board of Nursing, whichever 
is appropriate, by the State Registrar of Vital Statistics of the Department of Health and 
Human Services. 
For the purposes of this subsection, the following terms have the following meanings. 
A. 
"Life-sustaining procedure" means any medical procedure or intervention that, 
when administered to a qualified patient, will serve only to prolong the dying process 
and does not include nutrition and hydration. 
B. 
"Terminally ill patient" means a patient who has been diagnosed as having an 
incurable or irreversible condition that, without the administration of life-sustaining 
procedures, will, in the opinion of the attending health care provider, result in death 
within a short time. 
C. 
"Health care provider" means a physician authorized to practice in this State ef~ 
nurse practitioner or physician assistant. 
D. 
"Nurse practitioner" means an advanced practice registered nurse who is a 
certified nurse practitioner authorized to practice without the supervision of a 
physician pursuant to Title 32, chapter 31. 
E. 
"Physician assistant" means a person who has graduated from a physician 
assistant or surgeon assistant program accredited by the American Medical 
Association Committee on Allied Health Education and Accreditation or the 
Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs or its successor 
and who has passed the certifying examination administered by the National 
Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants or its successor. 
Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §2842, sub-§2-A, as amended by PL 2005, c. 359, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
2-A. Medical certification. Notwithstanding subsection 2, with respect to a person 
who dies within the State naturally and for whom the physician ef, nurse practitioner or 
physician assistant was the attending health care provider, the medical certification of the 
cause of death may be completed and signed by a physician ef, nurse practitioner or 
physician assistant authorized to practice at the Veterans Administration Hospital at 
Togus or at another federal medical facility within the State or by a physician ef, an 
advanced practice registered nurse or physician assistant licensed to practice in New 
Hampshire, Vermont or Massachusetts, who, at the request of the Chief Medical 
Examiner, is willing to do so. 
Sec. 3. 22 MRSA §2843, first ~, as amended by PL 2005, c. 359, §3, is further 
amended to read: 
Except as authorized by the department, fIB l! dead human body rna),' not be buried, 
cremated or otherwise disposed of or removed from the State until a funeral director or 
other authorized person in charge of the disposition of the dead human body or its 
removal from the State has obtained a permit from the clerk of the municipality where 
death occurred or where the establishment of a funeral director having custody of the 
dead human body is located. The permit is sufficient authority for final disposition in any 
place where dead human bodies are disposed of in this State, provided that as long as the 
requirements of Title 32, section 1405 are met in appropriate cases. No such The permit 
may not be issued to anyone other than a funeral director until the clerk of the 
municipality receives a medical certificate that has been signed by a physician or a 
medical examiner that indicates that the physician or medical examiner has personally 
examined the body after death. A permit must also be issued if a nurse practitioner or 
physician assistant has signed the medical certificate indicating that the nurse practitioner 
or physician assistant has knowledge of the deceased's recent medical condition or was in 
charge of the deceased's care and that the nurse practitioner or physician assistant has 
personally examined the body after death. The authorized person may transport a dead 
human body only upon receipt of this permit. 
Sec. 4. 22 MRSA §2843, 3rd ~, as amended by PL 2005, c. 359, §4, is further 
amended to read: 
A municipal clerk may issue a disposition of human remains permit to a funeral 
director who presents a report of death and states that the funeral director has been unable 
to obtain a medical certification of the cause of death. The funeral director shall name the 
attending physician, attending nurse practitioner, attending physician assistant or medical 
examiner who will certify to the cause of death and present assurances that he or she the 
attending physician, attending nurse practitioner, attending physician assistant or medical 
examiner has agreed to do so. The funeral director shall exercise due diligence to secure 
the medical certification and file the death certificate as soon as possible. 
Sec. 5. 22 MRSA §2846, 3rd ~, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 359, §5, is amended to 
read: 
For the purposes of this chapter, "health care provider" means a physician ef, a nurse 
practitioner or a physician assistant. 
Sec. 6. 22 MRSA §2846, as amended by PL 2005, c. 359, §5, is further amended 
by adding at the end a new paragraph to read: 
For the purposes of this chapter, "physician assistant" means a person who has 
graduated from a physician assistant or surgeon assistant program accredited by the 
American Medical Association Committee on Allied Health Education and Accreditation 
or the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs or its successor 
and who has passed the certifying examination administered by the National Commission 
on Certification of Physician Assistants or its successor. 
Sec. 7. 22 MRSA §2901, sub-§7-A is enacted to read: 
7-A. Physician assistant. "Physician assistant" means a person who has graduated 
from a physician assistant or surgeon assistant program accredited by the American 
Medical Association Committee on Allied Health Education and Accreditation or the 
Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs or its successor and 
who has passed the certifying examination administered by the National Commission on 
Certification of Physician Assistants or its successor. 
Sec. 8. 22 MRSA §2907, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2005, c. 359, §7, is further 
amended to read: 
2. Time of death. The time of death must be determined by a physician ef, nurse 
practitioner or physician assistant who attends the donor at the donor's death, or, if none, 
the physician ef, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who certifies the death. This 
physician ef, nurse practitioner or physician assistant may not participate in the 
procedures for removing or transplanting a part. 
SUMMARY 
This bill allows a physician assistant to sign death certificates.