Florida SB 188: Department of Health

Bill Text

188 
Medical Examiners’ Duties 
2025-10-14T09:51:57Z 
Specifying autopsy requirements for certain cases involving sudden and unexpected deaths; requiring medical examiners to report specified cases to the national Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and Sudden Death in the Young Case Registry in accordance with protocols established by the Department of Health and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; requiring the department to impose certain administrative penalties against medical examiners for failure to report such cases in a specified timeframe, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 188 

 By Senator Garcia 

 36-00570-26 2026188__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to medical examiners’ duties; amending 
 3 s. 406.11, F.S.; defining terms; specifying autopsy 
 4 requirements for certain cases involving sudden and 
 5 unexpected deaths; requiring medical examiners to 
 6 document certain information in the autopsy reports 
 7 for such cases; requiring medical examiners to report 
 8 specified cases to the national Sudden Unexpected 
 9 Infant Death and Sudden Death in the Young Case 
 10 Registry in accordance with protocols established by 
 11 the Department of Health and the United States Centers 
 12 for Disease Control and Prevention; requiring the 
 13 department to impose certain administrative penalties 
 14 against medical examiners for failure to report such 
 15 cases in a specified timeframe; providing that 
 16 compliance with specified provisions is deemed a 
 17 permissible disclosure for purposes of state and 
 18 federal medical privacy laws; providing an effective 
 19 date. 
 20 
 21 WHEREAS, the United States Centers for Disease Control and 
 22 Prevention operates the Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and 
 23 Sudden Death in the Young Case Registry, a national surveillance 
 24 program coordinated with the National Institutes of Health to 
 25 establish a valuable repository of information for researchers 
 26 studying the characteristics of sudden deaths in young 
 27 individuals, and 
 28 WHEREAS, district medical examiners in this state are 
 29 currently not required to report to the registry, resulting in 
 30 inconsistent data collection, and 
 31 WHEREAS, uniform reporting and the inclusion of relevant 
 32 medical information, including recent immunizations and 
 33 emergency countermeasures, are essential to strengthen public 
 34 health research, identify risk factors, and improve prevention 
 35 strategies, NOW, THEREFORE, 
 36 
 37 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 38 
 39 Section 1. Subsection (3) is added to section 406.11, 
 40 Florida Statutes, to read: 
 41 406.11 Examinations, investigations, and autopsies.— 
 42 (3)(a) As used in this subsection, the term: 
 43 1. “Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome(SADS)” means the 
 44 sudden and unexpected death due to cardiac arrhythmia, as 
 45 determined by performance of an autopsy or a clinical 
 46 investigation, of a young, apparently healthy individual with no 
 47 previously diagnosed structural heart disease. 
 48 2. “Sudden Death in the Young (SDY)” means the sudden and 
 49 unexpected death of an individual younger than 20 years of age 
 50 due to natural causes, including, but not limited to, sudden 
 51 cardiac death or sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, which 
 52 death remains unexplained after initial investigation. 
 53 3. “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)” means the sudden 
 54 death of an infant younger than 1 year of age which remains 
 55 unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including 
 56 performance of an autopsy, scene investigations, and a review of 
 57 clinical history. 
 58 4. “Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID)” means the sudden 
 59 and unexpected death of an infant younger than 1 year of age, 
 60 whether explained or unexplained, including, but not limited to, 
 61 death caused by SIDS, accidental suffocation, and other 
 62 potential causes. 
 63 5. “Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) and Sudden Death 
 64 in the Young (SDY) Case Registry” means the national 
 65 surveillance system coordinated by the Centers for Disease 
 66 Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health 
 67 which collects standardized data on sudden and unexpected deaths 
 68 in individuals younger than 20 years of age. 
 69 (b) In the case of an infant or child who dies suddenly and 
 70 unexpectedly, including cases of SIDS, SUID, or SDY, the autopsy 
 71 must include microscopic and toxicology studies and a review of 
 72 the child’s immunization and medical records, as available 
 73 through the state’s immunization registry established pursuant 
 74 to s. 381.003, from the child’s pediatrician or primary care 
 75 practitioner, or from other sources. The medical examiner shall 
 76 document in the autopsy report any immunizations or emergency 
 77 countermeasur