HB1738: Veterans or military service members; deaths by suicide.

Legislative Summary

Deaths by suicide of veterans or military service members; inquiry by State Registrar of Vital Records; Department of Veterans Services annual report. Requires the State Registrar of Vital Records, when a death certificate is filed and lists suicide as the cause of death, to make an inquiry into whether the decedent was a veteran or military service member and to provide any information concerning the suicide of such veteran or military service member to the Department of Veterans Services. The bill also provides that the Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Services may request, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner shall deliver to the Commissioner, a copy of an autopsy report of a veteran or military service member whose cause and manner of death is determined to be a suicide. The bill also reestablishes the position of Suicide Prevention Coordinator as the Suicide Prevention Program and requires such Program to, in coordination with the State Police, compile and analyze data relating to such suicides to be included in the annual report submitted by the Department to the Governor and the General Assembly.