State divided into dis

tricts for registration of deaths.

Registrars of dis

tricts.

Deputy local

SEC. 2. That for the purposes of this act the state shall be divided into registration districts as follows: Each city and county, city, and incorporated town, and each county exclusive of the portion included within cities and incorporated towns, shall constitute a primary registration district.

SEC. 3. That the recorder of each city and county, county, and the clerk of each city or incorporated town, shall be the local registrar in and for such primary registration district and shall perform all such duties of local registrar as hereinafter provided; provided however, that in cities. having a freeholders charter the health officer shall act as local registrar and perform all the duties thereof. Each local registrar. registrar shall immediately appoint in writing, a deputy who shall be authorized to act in his stead in case of absence, death, illness or disability and when it may appear necessary for the convenience of the people in any county, the local registrar is hereby authorized with the approval of the state registrar of vital statistics to appoint one or more proper and competent persons to act as subregistrars, who shall be authorized to receive certificates of death and to issue burial permits or removal permits in and for such portions of the county as may be designated. Each subregistrar shall note in legible writing over his signature the date each certificate of death was filed, and shall forthwith forward the certificate to the local registrar of the county, and in all cases before the eighth day of the following month; provided, that all subregistrars shall be subject to the supervision and control of the state registrar of vital statistics.

Subregistrars.

Permit from local registrar before burial.

of death filed.

SEC. 4. That the body or remains of no person whose death occurs in the state shall be interred, deposited in a vault, grave or tomb, cremated, disinterred or otherwise disposed of, or removed from or into any registration district until a permit for burial, disinterment or removal shall have been properly issued by the registrar of the registration district in which the death occurs. And no such Certificate burial or removal permit shall be issued by any registrar and return until a complete and satisfactory certificate and return of the death has been filed with him, as hereinafter required; provided that in case of any death outside of the state, where the body is accompanied by a removal or transit permit issued in accordance with the law and the health regulations in force where the death occurred, such removal or transit permit shall be accepted as of the same authority as a permit from the local registrar when such removal or transit permit shall have indorsed thereon the written approval of the state registrar of vital statistics, or when said state registrar otherwise officially notifies the local registrar of his approval.

When

death occurs outside of state.

Stillborn children

as deaths.

SEC. 5. Stillborn children, or those dead at birth, shall be registered registered as deaths under this act, and a certificate of death and burial or removal permit in usual form shall be required. The medical certificate of cause of death shall be signed by

the attending physician or midwife, and shall state the cause of death as "stillborn," with the cause of the stillbirth, if known, whether a premature birth, and, if born prematurely, the period of utero-gestation in months, if known.

Certificate

SEC. 6. That the certificate of death shall be of the stand- of death. ard form recommended by the United States Census Office and the American Public Health Association, and shall contain the following items:

(1) Place of death, including state, county, township or town, city or village. If in a city, the ward, street, and house number. If in a hospital or other institution, the name of the same to be given instead of the street and house number. (2) Full name of decedent. If an unnamed child the surname, preceded by "unnamed."

(3) Sex.

(4) Color or race-as white, black (negro or negro descent), Indian, Chinese, Japanese, or other.

(5) Conjugal condition-as single, married, widowed, or divorced.

(6) Date of birth, including the year, month, and day. (7) Age, in years, months, and days.

(8) Place of birth; state or foreign country.

(9) Name of father.

(10) Birthplace of father; state or foreign country. (11) Maiden name of mother.

(12) Birthplace of mother; state or foreign country. (13) Occupation; the occupation to be reported of any person who had any remunerative employment-women as well as men.

(14) Signature and address of informant.

(15) Date of death, including the year, month, and day. (16) Statement of medical attendance on decedent, fact and time of death, including the time last seen alive.

(17) Cause of death, including the primary and immediate causes, and contributory causes or complications, if any, and the duration of each.

(18) Signature and address of physician or official making the medical certificate.

(19) Special information concerning deaths in hospitals and institutions and of persons dying away from home, including the former or usual residence, length of time at place of death, and place where the disease was contracted. (20) Place of burial or removal.

(21) Date of burial or removal.

(22) Signature and address of undertaker.

(23) Official signature of registrar with date when certificate was filed and registered number.

Contents.

The certificate shall be written legibly in permanent black How made ink, typewritten or printed, and no certificate shall be held out.

to be complete and correct that does not supply all of the items of information specified above or satisfactorily account for the omission of any of said items.

Authentication of.

Undertaker to sign.

Medical

by whom

signed.

Contents

of cer

tificate.

The personal and statistical particulars (items 1 to 13) or such other items as shall be required by the state registrar shall be authenticated by the signature of the informant, who may be any competent person acquainted with the facts.

The statement of facts relating to the disposition of the body shall be signed by the undertaker or person acting as such. The medical certificate shall be made and signed by certificate, the physician, if any, last in attendance on the deceased, who shall specify the time in attendance, the time he last saw the deceased alive, and the hour of the day at which death occurred. He shall further state the cause of death so as to show the course of disease or sequence of causes resulting in death, giving the primary and immediate causes, and contributing causes, if any, and the duration of each. Indefinite and unsatisfactory terms indicating only symptoms of disease or conditions resulting from disease will not be held sufficient for issuing a burial or removal permit, and any certificate containing only such terms, as defined by the state registrar, shall be returned to the physician for correction or definition. Causes of death which may be the result of either disease or violence shall be carefully defined; and, if from violence, its nature shall be stated, and whether accidental, suicidal or homicidal. For cause of deaths in hospitals, institutions, or away from home, the physician shall furnish the information required under this head, and shall state where, in his opinion, the disease was contracted. The cause of death and all other facts required shall in all cases be stated in accordance with the instructions and directions of the state registrar.

Cause of death carefully defined.

In case death

occurs without

medical attendance.

dertaker.

Duty of

coroner.

Duty loca

registrar.

SEC. 7. In case of any death occurring without medical attendance, it shall be the duty of the undertaker to notify the registrar of such death, and when so notified the registrar shall refer the case to the coroner for his investigation Duty of un- and certification, and the coroner shall within three days after the inquest furnish the local registrar where such death occurs a certificate in form and substance as required by the state registrar and containing as many of the facts required by this act as can be ascertained. Said local registrar shall then forthwith transmit such certificate to the state registrar, retaining a copy thereof on file in his office. SEC. 8. The undertaker, or person acting as undertaker, sponsible shall be responsible for obtaining and filing the certificate of death with the registrar and securing a burial or removal permit prior to any disposition of the body. He Duty of un- shall obtain the personal and statistical particulars required from the person best qualified to supply them over the signature and address of his informant. He shall then present the certificate to the attending physician, if any, or to the health officer or coroner, as directed by the registrar, for the medical certificate of the cause of death and other par

Undertaker re

for certificate of

death.

dertaker.

ticulars necessary to complete the record, as specified in the preceding section. And he shall then state the facts required relative to the date and place of burial over his signature and with his address, and present the completed certificate to the registrar within the time limit, if any, designated by the local board of health for the issuance of a burial or removal permit. The undertaker shall deliver the burial permit to the sexton or person in charge of the premises before interring the body, or attach it to the box containing the corpse, when shipped by any transportation company, to accompany same to destination, when it shall be accepted by the sexton as authority for the interment of the body.

blanks.

local

registrar.

SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of the local registrar to sup- Lostrar to ply blank forms of certificates to such persons as require supply them. He shall carefully examine each certificate when presented for record to see that it has been made out in accord- Duty of ance with the provisions of this act and the instructions of the state registrar, and if any certificate is incomplete or unsatisfactory it shall be his duty to call attention to the defects in the return and to withhold issuing the burial or removal permit until they are corrected. He shall then number them in consecutive order, beginning with number one for the first death in each calendar year, and sign his name as registrar in attest of the date of filing in his office. If the certificate is properly executed and complete, he shall then issue a burial or removal permit to the undertaker: provided, that in case the death occurred from some disease In case of that is held by the state board of health to be infectious, death from contagious, or communicable and dangerous to the public gious, etc., health, no permit for the removal or other disposition of the body shall be granted by the registrar except under such conditions as may be prescribed by the state and local boards of health. He shall also make a complete and accurate copy of each certificate registered by him, upon a form identical. with the original certificate, to be filed and permanently preserved in his office as the local record of such death, in such manner as directed by the state registrar. He shall, on or before the eighth day of each month, transmit to the state registrar all original certificates registered by him during the preceding month. If no deaths occurred in any month he shall, on or before the eighth day of the following month, report that fact to the state registrar in such manner as the state registrar shall direct.

conta

diseases.

ment be

district in

death

SEC. 10. If the interment, or other disposition of the body If interis to be made in the registration district in which the death made in occurred, the wording of the burial permit may be limited which to a statement by the registrar, and over his signature, occurred, that a satisfactory certificate of death having been filed duty of with him as required by law, permission is granted to inter, remove, or otherwise dispose of the body of the deceased, stating the name, age, sex and cause of death and other necessary details upon the form prescribed by the state registrar.

registrar.

Duty of

sexton or

son in

charge of burial ground.

12

In case the interment, or other disposition of the body, is to be made in some registration district other than that in which the death occurred, a complete copy of the certificate of death shall be attached to and made a part of the permit. SEC. 11. No sexton or person in charge of any premises in other per- which interments are made shall inter or permit the interment of any body unless it is accompanied by a burial, removal, or transit permit as herein provided. Each sexton or person in charge of any burial ground shall indorse upon the permit the date of interment, over his signature, and shall return all permits, so indorsed, to the local registrar of his district within one day from the date of interment. He shall also keep a record of all interments made in the premises under his charge, stating the name of the deceased person, place of death, date of burial, and name and address of the undertaker, which record shall at all times be open to public inspection.

State regis

pare blank

SEC. 12. The state registrar shall prepare a sample form trar to pre- and blank for all registrars for use in registering, recording forms and preserving the returns or in otherwise carrying out the registrars. purposes of this act, and shall prepare and issue such detailed

for all

No other forms of blanks to be used.

instructions as may be required to secure the uniform observance of its provisions and the maintenance of a perfect system of registration. No other forms of blanks shall be used than those prescribed by the state registrar. He shall carefully examine the certificates received monthly from the local registrars, and if any such are incomplete or unsatisfactory he shall require such further information to be furnished as may be necessary to make the record satisfactory. All physicians, informants, or undertakers connected with tion to be the case, and all other persons having knowledge of the facts, are hereby required to furnish such information as they by whom. may possess regarding any death, upon demand of the state

Informa

furnished

local registrar,

Index of deaths.

Deposi

when.

registrar, in person, by mail, or through the local registrar. He shall further arrange, bind and permanently preserve the certificates in a systematic manner, and shall prepare and maintain a comprehensive index of all deaths registered, showing the name of deceased, place and date of death, number of certificate, and the volume in which it is contained. He shall inform all registrars what diseases are to be considered as infectious, contagious, or communicable, and dangerous to the public health, as decided by the state board of health, in order that when deaths occur from such diseases proper precautions may be taken to prevent the spreading of dangerous diseases, and all rules and regulations made by him for carrying out and enforcing the purposes of this act shall, when promulgated, have the same force and effect as if enacted by law.

SEC. 13. Whenever it may be alleged that the facts are tion taken, not correctly stated in any certificate of death theretofore registered, the local registrar shall require a deposition under oath to be made by the person asserting the fact, to be sup