A bipartisan bill to give investigating authorities consensual access to missing persons’ dental records has cleared the state House and is awaiting a Senate hearing. Luke Preston reports from Olympia.
House Bill 2009 would require the Washington State Patrol and the Dental Quality Assurance Commission to develop a process for dentists to receive voluntary patient consent to release dental records.
Representative Gina Mosbrucker of Goldendale authored the bill.
“When you go to the dentist, then you can fill out a piece of paper that says that you give permission in the event that you are subject of an investigation to disclose your dental records to Washington State Patrol so that they can help find you.”
Mosbrucker says the bill was brought to her from a constituent who had been looking for her daughter for five years.
“Later, she found out that her daughter had died three years previous. And all we had to do to solve that case was to match the dental records to the unidentified body that they found.”
Mosbrucker believes this measure will help families find their missing loved ones and gain closure. The bill passed the House unanimously and now awaits a hearing in the Senate Law and Justice Committee.
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