Legislation that is aimed at authorizing the next-of-kin of a deceased person to get a death certificate in a timely fashion has been filed by a western Missouri lawmaker.
State Rep. Donna Pfautsch, R-Harrisonville, tells Missourinet the bill is personal for her, after what her son went through.
“When his grandfather passed in the middle of the night, the doctor and it was a large hospital, had left on vacation and they could not get the death certificate signed,” Pfautsch says.
She says this is about compassion, noting that getting that signed death certificate allows the family the opportunity to bury the person in a timely fashion.
“When you don’t have a death certificate, all of your finances and everything are tied up,” says Pfautsch. “And the family was really flying in from different places and it left everyone holding the basket, besides dealing with all the hurt.”
Her 13-page bill also authorizes the next-of-kin to delegate control of the final disposition of the remains. It’s House Bill 1466.
Representative Pfautsch will be serving her eighth and final year in the Missouri House in 2020, because of term limits. She represents Cass, Jackson and Lafayette counties.
She chairs the Consent and House Procedure Committee.
Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and State Rep. Donna Pfautsch, R-Harrisonville, which was recorded on December 2, 2019 at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City:
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