213.076 Certificate of death or provisional certificate of death required to be filed -- Notice of military burial rights -- Medical certification of cause of death. - Kentucky Statutes

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213.076 Certificate of death or provisional certificate of death required to be filed -- Notice of military burial rights -- Medical certification of cause of death. (1) (a) 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. (b) 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. (c) 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. (d) 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. (e) 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. (f) 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) 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. (2) 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. (3) 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. (4) 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. (5) (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: July 15, 2008
History: 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.