§ 23-3-16 - Death registration.
SECTION 23-3-16
§ 23-3-16 Death registration. – (a) A death certificate for each death which occurs in this state shall befiled with the state registrar of vital records or as otherwise directed by thestate registrar within seven (7) calendar days after death and prior to removalof the body from the state, and shall be registered if it has been completedand filed in accordance with this section; provided:
(1) That if the place of death is unknown, a deathcertificate shall be filed with the state registrar of vital records or asotherwise directed by the state registrar within seven (7) calendar days afterthe occurrence; and
(2) That if death occurs in a moving conveyance, a deathcertificate shall be filed with the state registrar of vital records or asotherwise directed by the state registrar.
(b) The funeral director, his or her duly authorized agent,or person acting as agent, who first assumes custody of a dead body, shall filethe death certificate. He or she shall obtain the personal data from the nextof kin or the best qualified person or source available. He or she shall obtainthe medical certification of cause of death from the person responsible forcertification.
(c) A physician, after the death of a person whom he or shehas attended during his or her last illness, or the physician declaring thatperson dead, or if the death occurred in a hospital, a registered hospitalmedical officer duly appointed by the hospital director or administrator, shallimmediately furnish for registration a standard certificate of death to afuneral director or other authorized person or any member of the family of thedeceased, stating to the best of his or her knowledge and belief the name ofthe deceased, the disease of which he or she died, where it was contracted, theduration of the illness from which he or she died, when last seen alive by thephysician, or, if death occurs in a hospital, when last seen alive by aphysician and the date of death.
(d) When death occurred without medical attendance as setforth in subsection (c) or when inquiry is required by chapter 4 of this title,the medical examiner shall investigate the cause of death and shall completeand sign the medical certification within forty-eight (48) hours after takingcharge of the case.