SHELBYVILLE, Ky. — Last year, Stacey Burnett told Spectrum News 1 that her 18-year-old son Nathan was in Utah on spring break in 2021 when a Fayette County deputy coroner arrived at her Lexington home with a small piece of paper.

What You Need To Know

  • Last year, the governor signed Senate Bill 66 into law, changing requirements for death notifications

  • The law is named after Nathan Burnett 

  • Nathan, 18, was killed in a snowboarding accident in Utah in 2021 

  • His family testified in support of the law

“He just handed that to us and said, ‘You need to call Utah. I don’t have any details whatsoever,’” Burnett said. “And we kept asking him, at least asking if he was dead and he just said, ‘I don’t have any details. I don’t know.’ But we figured, it’s a coroner, that he was dead ... I started screaming in the lawn and my boys were just standing there watching and my husband started trying to call Utah and call the sheriff.” 

The family learned on that call that Nathan had been killed in a snowboarding accident, Burnett said. 

She said she felt the way the deputy coroner handled the situation was disrespectful to Nathan’s life, and she contacted then-State Sen. Ralph Alvarado.

The governor signed Senate Bill 66, which was named as “Nathan’s Law,” last year.

It mandates training on providing death notices and requires that a second person be with the coroner and that the notification is given verbally, in person, and respectfully.

“This situation, it shouldn’t have happened, in my opinion,” said Jimmy Pollard, executive director of the Kentucky Coroners Association and a retired coroner for Henry County, referring to the Burnett family’s notification.

He said Nathan’s Law is a good law and coroners have been receptive and proactive in developing new procedures.

“We had a PowerPoint presentation that we taught and went through at all of our basic training classes,” said Pollard. “We have taken that PowerPoint, we have expanded it. We have added more information to it, helpful information to it, and we’ve upgraded that.”

He estimated that at least 90% of coroners and deputy coroners have completed the training.

Pollard said those notifying families have to put themselves in their shoes.

“How would you want to be treated and what would you want said to you? And being compassionate and professional in your notification process,” he said.

Asked about the Burnett case last year, Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn told Spectrum News 1 that a deputy coroner verbally informed the Burnetts that Nathan had died, but Ginn would not provide further details. 

He said he prefers families receive information from the person directly handling the case. 

“I think any time myself or my deputies or anybody, really, can get more education and learn more about a particular topic or subject ... we’re all better when we’re able to do that,” he said in 2022. 

Nathan’s Law also requires coroners to have emergency medical crews on standby before they make a notification and that they follow up with the family within 48 hours.

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