2013 Kentucky Revised Statutes CHAPTER 213 - VITAL STATISTICS 213.076 Certificate of death or provisional certificate of death required to be filed -- Method of filing -- Notice of military burial rights -- Medical certification of cause of death -- Contents of certificate -- Supplemental report -- Verification-of-death statements -- Interment or other disposition of body prohibited unless accompanied by copy of certificate.
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213.076 Certificate of death or provisional certificate of death required to be
filed -- Method of filing -- Notice of military burial rights -- Medical
certification of cause of death -- Contents of certificate -- Supplemental
report -- Verification-of-death statements -- Interment or other disposition
of body prohibited unless accompanied by copy of certificate.
(1)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
A certificate of death or a provisional certificate of death for each death
which occurs in the Commonwealth shall be filed with the cabinet or as
otherwise directed by the state registrar prior to final disposition, and it
shall be registered if it has been completed and filed in accordance with
this section. The funeral director, or person acting as such, who first takes
custody of a dead body shall be responsible for filing the certificate of
death. The funeral director, or person acting as such, shall obtain the
required personal and statistical particulars from the person best qualified
to supply them over the signature and address of the informant. Effective
January 1, 2015, all certificates of death shall be filed with the cabinet
using the Kentucky Electronic Death Registration System in a manner
directed by the state registrar.
At the time of obtaining the required personal and statistical particulars
from the informant referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection, the
funeral director, or person acting as such, shall ask the informant if the
deceased ever served in the military. If the informant answers in the
affirmative, then the funeral director, or person acting as such, shall
provide the informant with a fact sheet stating military burial rights
supplied by the Kentucky Department of Veterans' Affairs.
The funeral director, or person acting as such, shall within five (5) days of
the death, present the certificate to the attending physician, if any, or to
the health officer or coroner as directed by the state registrar, for the
medical certificate of the cause of death and other particulars necessary
to complete the record as required by this chapter.
It shall be unlawful for an institution to release a dead human body until
the funeral director, or person acting as such, has completed and filed
with the local registrar or person in charge of the institution, a provisional
certificate of death. If death occurs outside an institution, the provisional
certificate shall be filed with the local registrar by the funeral director, or
person acting as such, prior to final disposition of the dead body. A copy
of the provisional certificate of death signed by the person with whom it
was filed, shall constitute authority for the possession, transportation, and,
except for cremation, final disposition of the body.
All persons having in their possession a completed provisional certificate
of death shall file the certificate at not more than weekly intervals with the
local registrar.
If the place of death is unknown but the dead body is found in the
Commonwealth, the certificate of death shall be completed and filed in
accordance with this section. The place where the body is found shall be
shown as the place of death. If the date of death is unknown, it shall be
determined by approximation subject to amendment upon completion of
any postmortem examination required to be performed.
(g)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
If death occurs in a moving conveyance in the United States and the body
is first removed from the conveyance in the Commonwealth, the death
shall be registered in Kentucky, and the place where it is first removed
shall be considered the place of death. If a death occurs on a moving
conveyance while in international waters or air space or in a foreign
country or its air space, and the body is first removed from the
conveyance in the Commonwealth, the death shall be registered in
Kentucky, but the certificate shall show the actual place of death insofar
as can be determined.
If any certificate of death is incomplete or unsatisfactory, the state registrar
shall call attention to the defects in the certificate and require the person
responsible for the entry to complete or correct. The state registrar may also
require additional information about the circumstances and medical conditions
surrounding a death in order to properly code and classify the underlying
cause. A funeral director shall not be held responsible for the failure of a
physician, dentist, chiropractor, or coroner to complete or correct the entry for
which he or she is responsible.
The medical certification shall be completed, signed, and returned to the
funeral director within five (5) working days after presentation to the physician,
dentist, or chiropractor in charge of the patient's care for the illness or condition
which resulted in death, except when inquiry is required by KRS 72.400 to
72.475. In such cases, or if the cause of death is unknown or under
investigation, the cause of death shall be shown as such on the certificate. A
supplemental report providing the medical information omitted from the original
certificate shall be filed by the certifier with the state registrar within five (5)
days after receiving results of the inquiry as required by KRS 72.400 to 72.475.
The supplemental report shall be made a part of the existing death certificate.
This report shall be considered an amendment, and the death certificate shall
be marked "Amended." In the absence of the physician, dentist, or chiropractor,
or with such person's approval, the certificate may be completed and signed by
his associate physician, dentist, or chiropractor, or the chief medical officer of
the institution in which death occurred, or the physician who performed an
autopsy upon the decedent, or a physician employed by the local health
department, if the individual has access to the medical history of the case and
death is due to natural causes.
If death occurs more than thirty-six (36) hours after the decedent was last
treated or attended by a physician, dentist, or chiropractor, the case shall be
referred to the coroner for investigation to determine and certify the cause of
death. In the event that a coroner is not available to sign the certificate and
there is no duly appointed deputy, the county judge/executive shall appoint a
competent person to investigate the death and certify to its cause.
(a) The physician, dentist, chiropractor, or coroner who certifies to the cause
of death shall return the certificate to the funeral director, or person acting
as such, who, in turn, shall file the certificate directly with the Vital
Statistics Branch. Any certified copies of the record requested at the time
of filing shall be issued in not more than two (2) working days.
(b) In the case of a death in which diabetes was known to be an underlying
cause or contributing condition, diabetes shall be listed in the appropriate
location on the death certificate by the physician, dentist, chiropractor, or
coroner who certifies to the cause of death.
(6) The Vital Statistics Branch shall provide self-addressed, color-coded envelopes
for the funeral homes in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
(7) Three (3) free verification-of-death statements shall be provided to the funeral
director by the Vital Statistics Branch for every death in the Commonwealth of
Kentucky.
(8) The body of any person whose death occurs in Kentucky shall not be interred,
deposited in a vault or tomb, cremated, or otherwise disposed of, or removed
from or into any registration district, until a provisional certificate of death has
been filed with the local registrar of the registration district in which the death
occurs. If the death occurred from a disease declared by the Cabinet for Health
and Family Services to be infectious, contagious, or communicable and
dangerous to the public health, no permit for the removal or other disposition of
the body shall be granted by the registrar except under conditions prescribed
by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the local health department.
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall identify by regulation those
communicable diseases which require blood and body fluid precautions. If a
person who has been diagnosed as being infected with a communicable
disease for which blood and body fluid precautions are required, dies within a
health facility as defined in KRS 216B.015, the facility shall notify any
embalmer or funeral director to whom the body will be transported of the need
for such precautions. The notice shall be provided by including the statement
"Blood and Body Fluid Precautions" on the provisional report-of-death form as
prescribed by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Lack of this notice
shall not relieve any embalmer or funeral director from taking universal blood
and body fluid precautions as are recommended by the United States
Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control for
Morticians' Services. No embalmer or funeral director shall charge more for
embalming the remains of a person with a communicable disease which
requires blood and body fluid precautions than the price for embalming
services listed on the price list funeral providers are required to maintain and
provide to consumers pursuant to 16 C.F.R. Sec. 453.2 (1988).
(9) A burial-transit permit for the final disposition issued under the law of another
state which accompanies a dead body or fetus brought into the Commonwealth
shall be the authority for final disposition of the body or fetus in the
Commonwealth and may be accepted in lieu of a certificate of death. There
shall be noted on the face of the record made for return to the local registrar
that the body was shipped to Kentucky for interment and the actual place of
death.
(10) Nothing in this section shall be construed to delay, beyond a reasonable time,
the interment or other disposition of a body unless the services of the coroner
or the health officer are required or the Department for Public Health deems it
necessary for the protection of the public health. If compliance with this section
would result in unreasonable delay in the disposition of the body the funeral
director, or person acting as such, shall file with the local registrar or deputy
registrar prior to interment a provisional certificate of death which shall contain
the name, date, and place of death of the deceased, the name of the medical
certifier, and an agreement to furnish within ten (10) days a complete and
satisfactory certificate of death.
(11) No sexton or other person in charge of any place in which interment or other
disposition of dead bodies is made shall inter or allow interment or other
disposition of a dead body or fetus unless it is accompanied by a copy of the
provisional certificate of death. The sexton, or if there is no sexton, the funeral
director, or person acting as such, shall enter on the provisional certificate over
his signature, the date, place, and manner of final disposition and file the
certificate within five (5) days with the local registrar.
(12) Authorization for disinterment, transportation, and reinterment or other
disposition shall be required prior to disinterment of any human remains. The
authorization shall be issued by the state registrar upon proper application. The
provisions of this subsection shall apply to all manners of disposition except
cremation and without regard for the time and place of death. The provisions of
KRS 381.765 shall not apply to remains removed for scientific study and the
advancement of knowledge.
(13) After a death certificate has been on file for five (5) years, it may not be
changed in any manner except upon order of a court. Prior to that time,
requests for corrections, amendments, or additions shall be accompanied by
prima facie evidence which supports the requested change.
Effective:June 25, 2013
History: Amended 2013 Ky. Acts ch. 4, sec. 1, effective June 25, 2013. -Amended 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 5, sec. 2, effective July 15, 2008. -- Amended 2007
Ky. Acts ch. 107, sec. 1, effective June 26, 2007. -- Amended 2005 Ky. Acts
ch. 99, sec. 436, effective June 20, 2005; and chs. 131, sec. 1, effective June
20, 2005. -- Amended 2002 Ky. Acts ch. 15, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2002; and
ch. 100, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2002. -- Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 426,
sec. 387, effective July 15, 1998. -- Created 1990 Ky. Acts ch. 369, sec. 14,
effective July 13, 1990.
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