House approves bill to improve tracking of data on sudden deaths related to epilepsy

By Sarah Ladd

Kentucky Lantern

A bill that could help Kentucky gather better data on sudden unexpected death of someone with epilepsy — called SUDEP — passed 95-0 out of the House on Tuesday.

House Bill 166 would require that autopsies determine, at a family member’s request, if a death is related to epilepsy and that the finding be included on the death certificate.

Sponsor Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, told his House colleagues: “I would suspect that everyone in this chamber has heard of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), but few have heard of SUDEP. ”

“That means,” Nemes said, “their death is unwitnessed and visibly unexplained.”

Co-sponsor Rep. Danny Bentley, R-Russell, called HB166 “a good bill” before voting in favor of it. “We need to have (a) more basic understanding.”

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