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.


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                    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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