B.__Deaths in the elderly who have sustained limb or axial fractures, excluding the head, for which they are or have been hospitalized; or

C.__Sudden natural deaths in the elderly who have not had previous specific symptoms or who were not under treatment by a physician for the specific natural cause that is considered to be the cause of death.

These reportable deaths may be referred back to the attending physician by the Chief Medical Examiner for certification of the death, even though the attending physician has not treated the patient for the specific natural disease that the attending physician will enter as the physician's diagnosis.

Sec. 4. 22 MRSA §3025, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2001, c. 222, §5, is repealed.

Sec. 5. 22 MRSA §3025, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2001, c. 222, §6, is repealed.

SUMMARY

This bill does 4 things.

1. It creates an exception to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, section 2842, subsection 2 relative to medical certification of cause of death that requires the certifying physician to be "authorized to practice in the State." The exception would allow, at the request of the Chief Medical Examiner of Maine, a willing attending physician of a person who dies within Maine of natural causes to complete and sign the medical certification if that physician is authorized to practice at the Veterans Administration Hospital at Togus or at another federal medical facility in Maine or is a licensed physician from New Hampshire, Vermont or Massachusetts.

2. It amends the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, section 3025 to clarify that although deaths must be reported, as prescribed in Title 22, section 3026, when remains are found that may be human and raise suspicion that death has occurred under one or more of the listed circumstances, the ultimate determination as to whether a reported death constitutes a medical examiner case is to be determined by the Chief Medical