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Letter: With veto, nurse practitioners are barred from issuing death certificates [MS]

Posted over 8 years ago by Nicholas M Perrino

"Recently, Governor Nixon vetoed House Bill 618. This bill was passed in a bipartisan vote by respected Missouri legislators. This bill was approved by legislators as they recognize the importance and how broken the system is currently. This veto also means that nurse practitioners cannot sign death certificates. We are truly hoping that the legislators will discuss this bill again at the veto session coming up this fall.

Governor Nixon believes that sheriff's deputies are capable of signing death certificates while nurse practitioners are not. In all due respect, how is the average sheriff's deputy, who may have never had any classes in disease physiology, anatomy or assessment, more qualified than a nurse practitioner to determine if a patient is deceased? One particular true life example was a female who died of a wound infection after having a knee replacement; however, her death certificate stated that she died of pneumonia. Again, we are not pointing fingers. The system is very over-burdened and not working the way it is designed to. This is exactly why House Bill 618 was passed by legislators and sent to the governor to be signed into law."

Association of Missouri Nurse Practitioners board members: Shanna Chapman of Monett, president; Lila Pennington of Wardsville, vice-president; Sharon Giboney of Springfield, Secretary

bit.ly/APPex159