Photo: Dr. Rachel Levine, PA Secretary of Health (top left), PA State Senator Judy Ward (PA-30) (top middle)
Charles Kiessling, Lycoming County Coroner & President of PSCA (top right)
Governor Tom Wolf (bottom)
By: Todd Bartley, TalkWilliamsport.com
News@TalkWilliamsport.com
PA State Senator Judy Ward (PA-30) is a proponent of transparency from the Department of Health as well as Governor Wolf as it relates to reporting COVID-19 data and specifically the deaths attributed to the disease.
On October 27, 2020, Senator Ward authored a letter to Governor Tom Wolf supporting her legislation (SB 1164) which read in part; “I introduced this bill because the coroner’s in my legislative district reached out to me over concern of discrepancies in numbers of COVID deaths reported by the Department of Health (DOH) and deaths they as coroners were aware of in their county.”
“Under current law, the coroner shall investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding a death that
appears to have happened in the county in various cases, including a death known or suspected to be duo to
contagious disease and constituting a public hazard.”
“I think it is important to point out that this measure does not expand the jurisdiction of the county coroner. It simply makes clear that certain circumstances of death shall be reported to the coroner, “‘including any disease constituting a health disaster emergency or pandemic.” This jurisdiction has existed since 1955.”
“This bill would codify what is currently allowed administratively during this pandemic. Coroners must sign a confidential agreement to utilize the system which would not change and the measure clearly states that “the coroner shall follow all applicable federal and state laws, regulations and confidentiality standards for data obtained under this subsection.” Furthermore, HIPAA (Section 164.512(g)) allows the release of information to medical examiners and coroners.”
“I believe all COVID-19 deaths and other infectious disease deaths should be reported to the coroners for
more accurate reporting of the deaths and for the safety and wellbeing of our communities. This proposal is
supported by the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association (PSCA). Please find attached, for your review and
consideration, a letter of support for SB 1164 from the Association. I would urge you to speak with Charles
Kiessling, President of PSCA, to hear the issues coroners have encountered and why this legislation is important
to them.”
Charles Kiessling, Lycoming County Coroner and Pennsylvania State Coroner’s Association President has been an outspoken critic of Secretary of the Department of Health Dr. Rachel Levine. As noted in his own county having two COVID-19 deaths attributed that were later revised and led to a statewide revision of more than 200 deaths being removed as non-COVID-19.
On November 3, 2020, according to a press release issued by his office, “The governor also vetoed Senate Bill 1164, which adds additional reporting requirements to certify a natural death. Given the substantial increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths, this bill would delay the reporting and the access to public health information needed to make timely public health and safety decisions, as well as the issuances of death certificates.”
Contacted for this story, PA State Senator Judy Ward (PA-30) offered the following response after the veto by Governor Wolf;
“As to your question, why doesn’t the Gov and Sec of Health want the coroners to have accurate counts?
So DOH can control the information! I can’t see any other reason not to sign this bill.”
Charles Kiessling, President of PSCA, Lycoming County Coroner was also contacted for this story and provided the following:
“See the attached Senate Bill 1164. Why on earth would Governor Wolf veto SB 1164 in the middle of the COVID 19 Pandemic? What are you hiding Governor Wolf that you do not want the people to see? This bill had bipartisan support in the Senate with veto proof majority and the House was only 2 votes shy of being veto proof.”
- SB 1164 would have required all healthcare facilities, personal care homes or physicians to report all deaths due to COVID 19, other contagious diseases constituting a public hazard to be reported to the coroner.
- SB 1164 would have provided electronic access to Death certificate information by all Coroners to verify deaths have occurred and assuring accuracy of reporting of these deaths. This is especially important during a pandemic to reduce the spread of illness in our communities.
- SB 1164 would have protected our county residents, first responders including EMS, Fire and Law Enforcement personnel that may have had contact with the deceased prior to death.
In response to the Governor’s veto memo:
1. The current Electronic Death Registry System placed a choke hold resulting in considerable backlogs in filing of death certificates. This resulted in 5 – 7 day or more delays in final disposition of many deceased early on in the COVID 19 Pandemic.
2. Public safety is currently being jeopardized by NOT reporting COVID 19 deaths to the Coroners as already required in the PA Coroner Statutes 1218-B #7 “deaths due to contagious disease that constitute a public hazard.”
3. Coroners being notified immediately at the time of death is critical for contact tracing especially in Counties that do not have County Department of Health Agencies. This protects family members, first responders, fire, EMS and law enforcement personnel that may have had contact with the deceased prior to or at the time of their death.
4. The Bill does not change the structure of reporting because the reporting to Coroners is performed immediately at the time of death, simultaneously the death is certified in the Electronic Death Registry System by the treating medical professional.
5. Coroners never delay disposition except in those cases where additional testing or autopsies are needed to more accurately determine the cause of death.
6. Coroners already have access to many databases and medical records containing identifiable health information. This information is never shared outside of investigating agencies.
7. The death certificate information containing the date, time, cause and manner of death is already public information 30 days after the year that the death occurred. For transparency and accuracy of death reporting there is no reason Coroners should not have access to death certification information on file.
8. DOH is violating CDC guidelines and PA Coroner Law in not recognizing the Coroners statutory duties with respect to contagious diseases.
9. By insisting on reporting deaths and COVID cases by county of residence instead of by county of death, the DOH has created confusion and a failure to recognize that the individual has most recently had contact with persons in the county where they died. In one instance a person was reported as a COVID case in Pennsylvania when, in fact, they were residing in a far western State for 6 months.
10. The CDC has clarified death counts to indicate that only 6% of the deaths are FROM COVID, while 94% are deaths with 2 or more comorbidities, i.e. cancer, heart issues, diabetes, and the like, WITH COVID. This designation of COVID may be actually tested for and confirmed or not or may be presumed to be present.
11. And of course, in Pennsylvania, 66% of the COVID listed deaths are from the infected elderly required by the Governor to go back to nursing homes, but only after his Secretary of Health’s mother was moved from a nursing home.
Kiessling added, “I am not sure that anything can be done to change this veto of such important legislation but the PSCA Executive Board will be considering all options over the next several days. We are meeting next Tuesday morning and may be going to Harrisburg on Tuesday afternoon.”
The future fate of SB 1164 is still up for debate since the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have no end in sight.
