What's happening
This bill requires coroners and similar officials to report any Lyme or tick-borne disease found in deceased individuals to the health department.
Why it matters
Improves public health surveillance. By requiring officials to report Lyme and tick-borne diseases found in deceased individuals, the state can gather more accurate data about the prevalence and impact of these diseases, especially cases that may have been missed during life.
May reveal underreported or missed cases. Some cases of Lyme or other tick-borne diseases are not diagnosed until after death, so this law could help identify patterns or outbreaks that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Informs future prevention and resource allocation. Better data on deaths involving tick-borne diseases could prompt stronger public health responses, awareness campaigns, or resource distribution to affected regions.
Could influence medical and legal standards. The requirement might encourage more thorough post-mortem examinations for tick-borne diseases, potentially affecting how causes of death are determined and recorded.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Report Lyme Deaths
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to health
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 58–2
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.309
- Referred to health
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Referred to health
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 61–0
Show 2 earlier actions
- Ordered to third reading cal.1279
- Referred to rules
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6415
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
June 7, 2019
Introduced by Sen. HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the reporting of lyme and tick-borne disease infection after death
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2799 to read as follows:
§ 2799. Reporting of lyme and tick-borne disease infection after death. If a coroner, pathologist, medical examiner, or other person qualified to conduct an examination of a deceased person discovers that at the time of death the individual was afflicted with lyme or other tick-borne diseases, he or she shall report the case promptly to the department according to the manner prescribed by the commissioner.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13262-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the reporting of lyme and tick-borne disease infection after death
Purpose
Relates to reporting Lyme and tick-borne disease infections after death
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Amends the public health law to add a new section 2799 to require that if a coroner, pathologist, medical examiner, or other person qualified to conduct an examination of a deceased person discov- ers that at the time of death the individual was afflicted with Lyme or other tick-borne diseases they shall report the case promptly to the Health Department.
Section 2: Establishes the effective date.
Justification
In August 2017, the Senate Task Force on Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases, in conjunction with the Senate Standing Committee on Health conducted a public hearing regarding the public health threats posed by Lyme and tick-borne diseases in New York State. In part, the hearing was prompted by recent infections and deaths in Upstate counties of Powassan virus, a deadly tick-borne infection that has continued to be identified through surveillance by the Health Department.
At the hearing, the Commissioner of Health and other Department staff indicated that the current statistics on Lyme and tick-borne diseases may undercount the total number of deaths because these infections exacerbate pre-existing conditions and may not be listed as the precipi- tating cause of death. Nevertheless, these infections seriously compro- mise patient health and have been noted by public health authorities to pose fatal risks. As such, it is important that in cases where Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses underlie the primary cause of death, such cases are reported as infections to the Health Department for appropri- ate surveillance and statistical accounting.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.