Veteran Burial Timeliness and Death Certificate Accountability Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4398 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4398

 To direct a physician or nurse practitioner employed by the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs to certify the death of a veteran not later than 48
hours after such physician or nurse practitioner learns of such death,
                        and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 15, 2025

     Mr. Emmer (for himself, Mr. Reschenthaler, Mr. Garbarino, Mr.
   DesJarlais, Mr. Latta, Ms. Malliotakis, Mr. Self, Ms. Tenney, Mr.
LaLota, Mr. Womack, Ms. Salazar, Mr. Stauber, Mr. Alford, Mr. Aderholt,
 Mr. Van Orden, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Lawler, Mr. Fulcher, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr.
  Bacon, Mr. Newhouse, Mr. Patronis, Mr. Mackenzie, Ms. McBride, Mr.
 Finstad, Mr. Owens, Mr. Costa, Mr. Calvert, Mrs. Kim, Mr. Nehls, Mr.
  Moulton, Mr. Fry, Mr. Gooden, Mr. Wied, Mr. Williams of Texas, Mr.
 Moylan, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Ciscomani, Mr. Rose, Mr. Strong, Mr. Guthrie,
 Mr. Steil, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Feenstra, Mrs. Fischbach, Mr. Tiffany,
 Ms. Van Duyne, Mr. Flood, Mr. Moore of West Virginia, and Mr. Hamadeh
 of Arizona) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To direct a physician or nurse practitioner employed by the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs to certify the death of a veteran not later than 48
hours after such physician or nurse practitioner learns of such death,
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Veteran Burial Timeliness and Death
Certificate Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) States and counties have reported significant delays in
        the signing of death certificates for veterans who pass away
        from natural causes.
            (2) Such delays, caused by the refusal of, or postponement
        by, physicians of the Department of Veterans Affairs have, in
        some cases, lasted as long as eight weeks.
            (3) Such delays prevent the timely burial of deceased
        veterans and access to survivor benefits.

SEC. 3. TIMELY CERTIFICATION OF THE DEATH OF A VETERAN.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) VA physician or nurse practitioner.--Subject to
        paragraph (2), a physician or nurse practitioner employed by
        the Secretary of Veterans Affairs who is the primary care
        provider of a veteran who dies of natural causes shall certify
        the death of such veteran not later than 48 hours after such
        physician or nurse practitioner learns of such death.
            (2) Coroner or medical examiner.--If a physician or nurse
        practitioner described in paragraph (1) cannot comply with such
        subsection with regards to a death described in such paragraph,
        a coroner or medical examiner in the jurisdiction where such
        death occurred may certify such death.
    (b) Report.--One year after the date of the enactment of this Act,
and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees
on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a
report regarding compliance with subsection (a). Such a report shall
include, with regards to the year preceding the date of the report, the
following elements:
            (1) The percentage of cases in which a physician or nurse
        practitioner employed by the Secretary complied with paragraph
        (1) of such subsection.
            (2) The number of cases in which such a physician or nurse
        practitioner could not so comply.
            (3) The most common reasons why such a physician or nurse
        practitioner could not so comply.
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