Sec. 7-60. Fetal death certificates.
Sec. 7-60. Fetal death certificates. (a) Each case of fetal death shall be registered
and a fetal death certificate shall be filed with the registrar of vital statistics in the manner
required by sections 7-48, 7-50, 7-51 and 7-52 with respect to the filing, content and
issuance of birth certificates. A fetus born after a period of gestation of not less than
twenty weeks in which there is no attempt at respiration, no action of heart and no
movement of voluntary muscle, shall be recorded as a fetal death. A fetal death certificate
shall be signed by a physician or, when no physician was in attendance, by the nurse-midwife in attendance at the birth, the Chief Medical Examiner, Deputy Chief Medical
Examiner, an associate medical examiner or an authorized assistant medical examiner.
(b) Such certificate shall include, on a confidential portion of the certificate, any
additional information required by the department, provided the information obtained
under this section shall be used only for medical and health purposes.
(1949 Rev., S. 581; 1951, 1953, S. 232d; 1969, P.A. 699, S. 19; P.A. 77-614, S. 323, 610; P.A. 79-47, S. 1; 79-434, S.
5; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; P.A. 01-163, S. 20; P.A. 03-19, S. 18; P.A. 07-79, S. 2.)
History: 1969 act specified chief, deputy and authorized assistant medical examiners as signers of certificate replacing
former reference simply to "medical examiner"; P.A. 77-614 substituted department of health services for department of
health, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 79-47 replaced deputy medical examiner with deputy chief medical examiner and
included associate medical examiner as authorized signer; P.A. 79-434 divided section into Subsecs. and added requirement
that additional information be used only for medical and health purposes and is not to be placed in permanent official
records; P.A. 93-381 replaced department of health services with department of public health and addiction services,
effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with
Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 01-163 amended Subsec. (a) by adding
reference to Secs. 7-50, 7-51 and 7-52 re content and issuance of birth certificates and amended Subsec. (b) by adding
provision re confidential portion of certificate, deleting provision re information shall not be incorporated into permanent
records of department and making a technical change; P.A. 03-19 made a technical change in Subsec. (a), effective May
12, 2003; P.A. 07-79 amended Subsec. (a) to allow nurse-midwife in attendance at a birth in which a physician is not
present to sign the fetal death certificate for a fetus born dead.
Statute does not address fetal autopsies. 46 CS 204.