Definition of fetal death

AN ACT Relating to updating the definition of fetal death to 1
ensure the calculation of gestational age is based on objective and 2
clinically accurate criteria; amending RCW 70.58A.010 and 70.58A.010; 3
providing an effective date; and providing an expiration date.4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
Sec. 1. RCW 70.58A.010 and 2020 c 312 s 729 are each amended to 6
read as follows: 7
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter 8
unless the context clearly requires otherwise. 9
(1) "Adult" means a person who is at least eighteen years of age, 10
or an emancipated minor under chapter 13.64 RCW. 11
(2) "Amendment" means a change to a certification item on the 12
vital record. 13
(3) "Authorized representative" means a person permitted to 14
receive a certification who is: 15
(a) Identified in a notarized statement signed by a qualified 16
applicant; or 17
(b) An agent identified in a power of attorney as defined in 18
chapter 11.125 RCW. 19
(4) "Certification" means the document, in either paper or 20
electronic format, containing all or part of the information 21
S-3563.1
SENATE BILL 6025
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senators Cleveland, Robinson, Nobles, and C. Wilson
Prefiled 01/07/26. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Health & Long-Term Care.
p. 1 SB 6025
contained in the original vital record from which the document is 1
derived, and is issued from the central vital records system. A 2
certification includes an attestation by the state or local registrar 3
to the accuracy of information, and has the full force and effect of 4
the original vital record. 5
(5) "Certification item" means any item of information that 6
appears on certifications. 7
(6) "Coroner" means the person elected or appointed in a county 8
under chapter 36.16 RCW to serve as the county coroner and fulfill 9
the responsibilities established under chapter 36.24 RCW.10
(7) "Cremated remains" has the same meaning as "cremated human 11
remains" in chapter 68.04 RCW. 12
(8) "Delayed report of live birth" means the report submitted to 13
the department for the purpose of registering the live birth of a 14
person born in state that was not registered within one year of the 15
date of live birth. 16
(9) "Department" means the department of health.17
(10) "Domestic partner" means a party to a state registered 18
domestic partnership established under chapter 26.60 RCW.19
(11) "Facility" means any licensed establishment, public or 20
private, located in state, which provides inpatient or outpatient 21
medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment; or nursing, 22
custodial, or domiciliary care. The term also includes establishments 23
to which persons are committed by law including, but not limited to:24
(a) Mental illness detention facilities designated to assess, 25
diagnose, and treat individuals detained or committed, under chapter 26
71.05 RCW; 27
(b) City and county jails; 28
(c) State department of corrections facilities; and29
(d) Juvenile correction centers governed by Title 72 RCW.30
(12) "Fetal death" means any product of conception that shows no 31
evidence of life, such as breathing, beating of the heart, pulsation 32
of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles 33
after complete expulsion or extraction from the individual who gave 34
birth that is not an induced termination of pregnancy and:35
(a) Has completed twenty or more weeks of gestation ((as 36
calculated from the date the last menstrual period of the individual 37
who gave birth began, to the date of expulsion or extraction )) at the 38
date of death based on the best clinically accurate gestational age ; 39
or 40
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(b) Weighs three hundred fifty grams or more, if weeks of 1
gestation are not known. 2
(13) "Final disposition" means the burial, interment, entombment, 3
cremation, removal from the state, or other manner of disposing of 4
human remains as authorized under chapter 68.50 RCW.5
(14) "Funeral director" means a person licensed under chapter 6
18.39 RCW as a funeral director. 7
(15) "Funeral establishment" means a place of business licensed 8
under chapter 18.39 RCW as a funeral establishment.9
(16) "Government agencies" include state boards, commissions, 10
committees, departments, educational institutions, or other state 11
agencies which are created by or pursuant to statute, other than 12
courts and the legislature; county or city agencies, United States 13
federal agencies, and federally recognized tribes and tribal 14
organizations. 15
(17) "Human remains" means the body of a deceased person, 16
includes the body in any stage of decomposition, and includes 17
cremated human remains, but does not include human remains that are 18
or were at any time under the jurisdiction of the state physical 19
anthropologist under chapter 27.44 RCW. 20
(18) "Individual" means a natural person. 21
(19) "Induced termination of pregnancy" means the purposeful 22
interruption of an intrauterine pregnancy with an intention other 23
than to produce a live-born infant, and which does not result in a 24
live birth. 25
(20) "Informational copy" means a birth or death record issued 26
from the central vital records system, containing all or part of the 27
information contained in the original vital record from which the 28
document is derived, and indicating it cannot be used for legal 29
purposes on its face. 30
(21) "Legal guardian" means a person who serves as a guardian for 31
the purpose of either legal or custodial matters, or both, relating 32
to the person for whom the guardian is appointed. The term legal 33
guardian includes, but is not limited to, guardians appointed 34
pursuant to chapters 11.130 and 13.36 RCW. 35
(22) "Legal representative" means a licensed attorney 36
representing either the subject of the record or qualified applicant.37
(23) "Live birth" means the complete expulsion or extraction of a 38
product of human conception from the individual who gave birth, 39
irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such 40
p. 3 SB 6025
expulsion or extraction, breathes or shows any other evidence of 1
life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, 2
or definite movement of voluntary muscles. 3
(24) "Local health officer" has the same meaning as in chapter 4
70.05 RCW. 5
(25) "Medical certifier" for a death or fetal death means an 6
individual required to attest to the cause of death information 7
provided on a report of death or fetal death. Each individual 8
certifying cause of death or fetal death may certify cause of death 9
only as permitted by that individual's professional scope of 10
practice. These individuals include: 11
(a) A physician, physician's assistant, or an advanced registered 12
nurse practitioner last in attendance at death or who treated the 13
decedent through examination, medical advice, or medications within 14
the twelve months preceding the death; 15
(b) A midwife, only in cases of fetal death; and16
(c) A physician performing an autopsy, when the decedent was not 17
treated within the last twelve months and the person died a natural 18
death. 19
(26) "Medical examiner" means the person appointed under chapter 20
36.24 RCW to fulfill the responsibilities established under chapter 21
36.24 RCW. 22
(27) "Midwife" means a person licensed to practice midwifery 23
pursuant to chapter 18.50 RCW. 24
(28) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine, 25
naturopathy, or osteopathy pursuant to Title 18 RCW.26
(29) "Registration" or "register" means the process by which a 27
report is approved and incorporated as a vital record into the vital 28
records system. 29
(30) "Registration date" means the month, day, and year a report 30
is incorporated into the vital records system. 31
(31) "Report" means an electronic or paper document containing 32
information related to a vital life event for the purpose of 33
registering the vital life event. 34
(32) "Sealed record" means the original record of a vital life 35
event and the evidence submitted to support a change to the original 36
record. 37
(33) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department of health.38
(34) "State" means Washington state unless otherwise specified.39
p. 4 SB 6025
(35) "State registrar" means the person appointed by the 1
secretary to administer the vital records system under RCW 2
70.58A.030. 3
(36) "Territory of the United States" means American Samoa, the 4
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of 5
Puerto Rico, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands.6
(37) "Vital life event" means a birth, death, fetal death, 7
marriage, dissolution of marriage, dissolution of domestic 8
partnership, declaration of invalidity of marriage, declaration of 9
invalidity of domestic partnership, and legal separation.10
(38) "Vital record" or "record" means a report of a vital life 11
event that has been registered and supporting documentation.12
(39) "Vital records system" means the statewide system created, 13
operated, and maintained by the department under this chapter.14
(40) "Vital statistics" means the aggregated data derived from 15
vital records, including related reports, and supporting 16
documentation. 17
Sec. 2. RCW 70.58A.010 and 2025 c 58 s 5138 are each amended to 18
read as follows: 19
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter 20
unless the context clearly requires otherwise. 21
(1) "Adult" means a person who is at least eighteen years of age, 22
or an emancipated minor under chapter 13.64 RCW. 23
(2) "Amendment" means a change to a certification item on the 24
vital record. 25
(3) "Authorized representative" means a person permitted to 26
receive a certification who is: 27
(a) Identified in a notarized statement signed by a qualified 28
applicant; or 29
(b) An agent identified in a power of attorney as defined in 30
chapter 11.125 RCW. 31
(4) "Certification" means the document, in either paper or 32
electronic format, containing all or part of the information 33
contained in the original vital record from which the document is 34
derived, and is issued from the central vital records system. A 35
certification includes an attestation by the state or local registrar 36
to the accuracy of information, and has the full force and effect of 37
the original vital record. 38
p. 5 SB 6025
(5) "Certification item" means any item of information that 1
appears on certifications. 2
(6) "Coroner" means the person elected or appointed in a county 3
under chapter 36.16 RCW to serve as the county coroner and fulfill 4
the responsibilities established under chapter 36.24 RCW.5
(7) "Cremated remains" has the same meaning as "cremated human 6
remains" in chapter 68.04 RCW. 7
(8) "Delayed report of live birth" means the report submitted to 8
the department for the purpose of registering the live birth of a 9
person born in state that was not registered within one year of the 10
date of live birth. 11
(9) "Department" means the department of health.12
(10) "Domestic partner" means a party to a state registered 13
domestic partnership established under chapter 26.60 RCW.14
(11) "Facility" means any licensed establishment, public or 15
private, located in state, which provides inpatient or outpatient 16
medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment; or nursing, 17
custodial, or domiciliary care. The term also includes establishments 18
to which persons are committed by law including, but not limited to:19
(a) Mental illness detention facilities designated to assess, 20
diagnose, and treat individuals detained or committed, under chapter 21
71.05 RCW; 22
(b) City and county jails; 23
(c) State department of corrections facilities; and24
(d) Juvenile correction centers governed by Title 72 RCW.25
(12) "Fetal death" means any product of conception that shows no 26
evidence of life, such as breathing, beating of the heart, pulsation 27
of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles 28
after complete expulsion or extraction from the individual who gave 29
birth that is not an induced termination of pregnancy and:30
(a) Has completed twenty or more weeks of gestation ((as 31
calculated from the date the last menstrual period of the individual 32
who gave birth began, to the date of expulsion or extraction )) at the 33
date of death based on the best clinically accurate gestational age ; 34
or 35
(b) Weighs three hundred fifty grams or more, if weeks of 36
gestation are not known. 37
(13) "Final disposition" means the burial, interment, entombment, 38
cremation, removal from the state, or other manner of disposing of 39
human remains as authorized under chapter 68.50 RCW.40
p. 6 SB 6025
(14) "Funeral director" means a person licensed under chapter 1
18.39 RCW as a funeral director. 2
(15) "Funeral establishment" means a place of business licensed 3
under chapter 18.39 RCW as a funeral establishment.4
(16) "Government agencies" include state boards, commissions, 5
committees, departments, educational institutions, or other state 6
agencies which are created by or pursuant to statute, other than 7
courts and the legislature; county or city agencies, United States 8
federal agencies, and federally recognized tribes and tribal 9
organizations. 10
(17) "Human remains" means the body of a deceased person, 11
includes the body in any stage of decomposition, and includes 12
cremated human remains, but does not include human remains that are 13
or were at any time under the jurisdiction of the state physical 14
anthropologist under chapter 27.44 RCW. 15
(18) "Individual" means a natural person. 16
(19) "Induced termination of pregnancy" means the purposeful 17
interruption of an intrauterine pregnancy with an intention other 18
than to produce a live-born infant, and which does not result in a 19
live birth. 20
(20) "Informational copy" means a birth or death record issued 21
from the central vital records system, containing all or part of the 22
information contained in the original vital record from which the 23
document is derived, and indicating it cannot be used for legal 24
purposes on its face. 25
(21) "Legal guardian" means a person who serves as a guardian for 26
the purpose of either legal or custodial matters, or both, relating 27
to the person for whom the guardian is appointed. The term legal 28
guardian includes, but is not limited to, guardians appointed 29
pursuant to chapters 11.130 and 13.36 RCW. 30
(22) "Legal representative" means a licensed attorney 31
representing either the subject of the record or qualified applicant.32
(23) "Live birth" means the complete expulsion or extraction of a 33
product of human conception from the individual who gave birth, 34
irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such 35
expulsion or extraction, breathes or shows any other evidence of 36
life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, 37
or definite movement of voluntary muscles. 38
(24) "Local health officer" has the same meaning as in chapter 39
70.05 RCW. 40
p. 7 SB 6025
(25) "Medical certifier" for a death or fetal death means an 1
individual required to attest to the cause of death information 2
provided on a report of death or fetal death. Each individual 3
certifying cause of death or fetal death may certify cause of death 4
only as permitted by that individual's professional scope of 5
practice. These individuals include: 6
(a) A physician, physician's assistant, or an advanced practice 7
registered nurse last in attendance at death or who treated the 8
decedent through examination, medical advice, or medications within 9
the twelve months preceding the death; 10
(b) A midwife, only in cases of fetal death; and11
(c) A physician performing an autopsy, when the decedent was not 12
treated within the last twelve months and the person died a natural 13
death. 14
(26) "Medical examiner" means the person appointed under chapter 15
36.24 RCW to fulfill the responsibilities established under chapter 16
36.24 RCW. 17
(27) "Midwife" means a person licensed to practice midwifery 18
pursuant to chapter 18.50 RCW. 19
(28) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine, 20
naturopathy, or osteopathy pursuant to Title 18 RCW.21
(29) "Registration" or "register" means the process by which a 22
report is approved and incorporated as a vital record into the vital 23
records system. 24
(30) "Registration date" means the month, day, and year a report 25
is incorporated into the vital records system. 26
(31) "Report" means an electronic or paper document containing 27
information related to a vital life event for the purpose of 28
registering the vital life event. 29
(32) "Sealed record" means the original record of a vital life 30
event and the evidence submitted to support a change to the original 31
record. 32
(33) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department of health.33
(34) "State" means Washington state unless otherwise specified.34
(35) "State registrar" means the person appointed by the 35
secretary to administer the vital records system under RCW 36
70.58A.030. 37
(36) "Territory of the United States" means American Samoa, the 38
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of 39
Puerto Rico, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands.40
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(37) "Vital life event" means a birth, death, fetal death, 1
marriage, dissolution of marriage, dissolution of domestic 2
partnership, declaration of invalidity of marriage, declaration of 3
invalidity of domestic partnership, and legal separation.4
(38) "Vital record" or "record" means a report of a vital life 5
event that has been registered and supporting documentation.6
(39) "Vital records system" means the statewide system created, 7
operated, and maintained by the department under this chapter.8
(40) "Vital statistics" means the aggregated data derived from 9
vital records, including related reports, and supporting 10
documentation. 11
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. Section 1 of this act expires June 30, 12
2027.13
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Section 2 of this act takes effect June 14
30, 2027.15
--- END ---
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