PA House passes ‘Morgan Rose’s Law’ to take on Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy
Rep. Lisa Borowski June 25, 2025 | 12:13 PM
[High-res downloads: Reps. Borowski & Flood | Rep. Borowski]
HARRISBURG, June 25 – Epilepsy patients and their families, doctors, and coroners would benefit from legislation approved June 24 by the PA House, says the bill’s author, state Rep. Lisa Borowski, D-Delaware. House Bill 1442 would expand coroner investigations related to epilepsy to determine if the patient suffered from Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, or SUDEP, with a goal of better understanding the risk factors and causes of the under-recognized fatality.
The legislation is co-prime sponsored by state Rep. Ann Flood, R-Northampton, whose young daughter died in her sleep from SUDEP right before Christmas in 2007. [Watch Rep. Flood’s remarks here.]
“Having lost a beautiful daughter to SUDEP, this is deeply personal to me and my family. I understand how important it is to raise awareness and improve how these deaths are identified,” said Flood. “As a co-prime sponsor of House Bill 1442, I am committed to ensuring families have the information they need and researchers have the data and funding necessary to help prevent future tragedies.”
When someone with epilepsy is otherwise healthy but dies unexpectedly, and no other cause of death is found in the autopsy, their cause of death can be determined as SUDEP. Most cases happen either during a seizure or right after one, and often at night or when the person is sleeping, leaving any seizures unwitnessed.
House Bill 1442 would require PA coroners to evaluate autopsies involving a seizure or epilepsy diagnosis for SUDEP – and to report it on the death certificate if found to be the cause of death.
“The medical community still has a lot to learn about what triggers SUDEP, and this legislation would help supply them with the data they need to be able to better educate patients and their families about its signs and risks,” Borowski said. “One of the most heartbreaking aspects of SUDEP is that its highest prevalence is among young adults – sons and daughters who were just getting started with their independent lives, with so much possibility ahead of them. That was the case with Morgan Hosbach, the young woman in my district for whom this bill is named.”
SUDEP is considered a rare occurrence; for every 1,000 individuals with epilepsy at least one person may die from a SUDEP each year. Possible causes include interruption to breathing, heart rhythm, and/or brainstem function.
“We’ll have succeeded when every SUDEP occurrence is diagnosed accurately and every epilepsy patient and their loved ones know its risk factors,” Borowski said. [Watch her remarks here.]
Borowski said she learned about SUDEP from constituents Colleen and John Hosbach, whose daughter, Morgan Rose Hosbach, died from SUDEP in 2022 at age 23. Morgan’s epilepsy was well managed and under supervision by her health care team, but neither she nor her family were told about SUDEP or its risk factors at any point after she was diagnosed with epilepsy at age three, according to family members.
The Hosbachs traveled to Harrisburg in April 2024 to join Borowski for a press conference calling on her House colleagues to support the SUDEP measure when she first introduced it during the 2023-24 legislative session.
“Every day we wake up and say to ourselves, ‘I wish we knew.’ What could we have done if we were educated about SUDEP?” Colleen Hosbach said at the time. “[This bill is] critical to the research and future of bringing SUDEP awareness to our families.”