213.076 Certificate of death or provisional certificate of death required to be filed -
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/ky/213-076A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
- 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 -- Authorization for disinterment -- Change
in death certificate.
(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. 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.
(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, advanced practice
registered nurse, or physician assistant, if any, to the physician pronouncing
death, 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, advanced practice registered
nurse, physician assistant, dentist, chiropractor, or coroner to complete or correct
the entry for which he or she is responsible.
(a)The medical certification shall be completed, signed, and returned to the
funeral director within five
(5)working days after presentation to the
physician, advanced practice registered nurse, physician assistant, 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
medical certification shall be completed within five
(5)days after receiving
results of the inquiry as required by KRS 72.400 to 72.475.
(b)In the absence of the physician, advanced practice registered nurse, physician
assistant, dentist, or chiropractor, or with such person's approval, the
certificate may be completed and signed by his or her associate physician,
advanced practice registered nurse, physician assistant, 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, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant 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, advanced practice registered nurse, physician assistant,
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, advanced practice registered nurse, physician assistant, 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, advanced practice registered nurse,
physician assistant, dentist, chiropractor, or coroner who certifies to the cause
of death.
(6)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.
(7)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.
(8)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.
(9)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.
(10)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 or her
signature, the date, place, and manner of final disposition and file the certificate
within five
(5)days with the local registrar.
(11)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.
(12)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.