Requires coroners to report certain information regarding sudden child deaths. (8/1/26) (RE NO IMPACT See Note)

Senate Bill 29 amends R.S. 13:5713(C) to expand the mandatory autopsy requirement for child deaths and add new investigative and reporting procedures. Currently, Louisiana law requires coroners to perform autopsies only on infants under one year of age who die unexpectedly without explanation. This bill expands that requirement to all children under fifteen years of age who die unexpectedly without explanation. The autopsy must continue to include microscopic and toxicology studies, but the bill adds a new requirement that coroners review the child's immunization records through the state immunization registry and document in the autopsy report any immunizations administered to the child within the ninety days preceding death. Additionally, the bill modifies the reporting requirements for certain categories of sudden death, requiring coroners to report cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Sudden Unexpected Infant Death, Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome, and Sudden Death in the Young to both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health's Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and Sudden Death in the Young Case Registry, while maintaining the existing requirement to notify the parish health unit director.

The practical effect of this legislation will be most significant for coroners' offices across Louisiana, which must establish procedures to access immunization records through the state registry and incorporate that review into their standard autopsy protocols for all unexplained child deaths under age fifteen. Parish health unit directors will continue to receive notification in SIDS cases but will no longer be the sole recipient of such reports. Medical examiners and coroners will need to develop new systems and timelines for submitting case reports to federal agencies. Families of deceased children will face mandatory autopsies in a much broader category of deaths, though the bill preserves the existing parental objection provision that allows parents to prevent autopsy unless the coroner determines that public safety, health, or welfare concerns override that objection. Public health authorities and researchers will gain access to expanded data on child mortality patterns and the relationship between immunization timing and sudden death events.

This legislation operates within the existing coroner system established under Louisiana's Revised Statutes Title 13 and maintains the established relationship between local coroners and parish health units while creating new reporting pathways to federal public health agencies. The bill preserves the parental consent exception already codified in R.S. 13:5713(C)(5), ensuring that the expansion of autopsy requirements does not eliminate the existing mechanism for family objection. The expansion to age fifteen represents a significant broadening of state authority to mandate investigation of unexplained child deaths and reflects a legislative judgment that systematic review of immunization records and federal reporting serves important public health interests that extend beyond the traditional focus on sudden infant mortality.