§ 130A-115. Death registration.
§130A‑115. Death registration.
(a) A death certificatefor each death which occurs in this State shall be filed with the localregistrar of the county in which the death occurred within five days after thedeath. If the place of death is unknown, a death certificate shall be filedwithin five days in the county where the dead body is found. If the deathoccurs in a moving conveyance, a death certificate shall be filed in the countyin which the dead body was first removed from the conveyance.
(b) The funeraldirector or person acting as such who first assumes custody of a dead bodyshall file the death certificate with the local registrar. The personal datashall be obtained from the next of kin or the best qualified person or sourceavailable. The funeral director or person acting as such is responsible forobtaining the medical certification of the cause of death, stating factsrelative to the date and place of burial, and filing the death certificate withthe local registrar within five days of the death.
(c) The medicalcertification shall be completed and signed by the physician in charge of thepatient's care for the illness or condition which resulted in death, exceptwhen the death falls within the circumstances described in G.S. 130A‑383.In the absence of the physician or with the physician's approval, thecertificate may be completed and signed by an associate physician, the chiefmedical officer of the hospital or facility in which the death occurred or aphysician who performed an autopsy upon the decedent under the followingcircumstances: the individual has access to the medical history of thedeceased; the individual has viewed the deceased at or after death; and thedeath is due to natural causes. When specifically approved by the State Registrar,an electronic signature or facsimile signature of the physician shall beacceptable. As used in this section, the term electronic signature has the samemeaning as applies in G.S. 66‑58.2. The physician shall state the causeof death on the certificate in definite and precise terms. A certificatecontaining any indefinite terms or denoting only symptoms of disease orconditions resulting from disease as defined by the State Registrar, shall bereturned to the person making the medical certification for correction and moredefinite statement.
(d) The physician ormedical examiner making the medical certification as to the cause of deathshall complete the medical certification no more than three days after death.The physician or medical examiner may, in appropriate cases, designate thecause of death as unknown pending an autopsy or upon some other reasonablecause for delay, but shall send the supplementary information to the localregistrar as soon as it is obtained.
(e) In the case ofdeath or fetal death without medical attendance, it shall be the duty of thefuneral director or person acting as such and any other person having knowledgeof the death to notify the local medical examiner of the death. The body shallnot be disposed of or removed without the permission of the medical examiner.If there is no county medical examiner, the Chief Medical Examiner shall benotified. (1913, c. 109, ss. 7, 9; C.S., ss. 7094, 7096; 1949,c. 161, s. 1; 1955, c. 951, ss. 11, 12; 1957, c. 1357, s. 1; 1963, c. 492, ss.1, 2, 4; 1969, c. 1031, s. 1; 1973, c. 476, s. 128; c. 873, s. 5; 1979, c. 95,ss. 2, 3; 1981, c. 187, s. 1; 1983, c. 891, s. 2; 1999‑247, s. 1.)