Terms as used in this chapter mean:

(1) “Authorized representative,” an attorney, physician, funeral director, or other designated agent acting on behalf of the family;

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(1A) “Autopsy,” the post mortem dissection and examination of a dead body, including fetal tissue older than twenty-four weeks;

(2) “Certified copy,” a vital record or part thereof issued and sealed by the state registrar and other entities as authorized by the department;

(3) “Dead body,” a lifeless human body or parts thereof from the state of which it may reasonably be concluded that death recently occurred;

(4) “Death certificate,” a record by means of which both the fact of death record and the medical certificate have been completed and filed as required by the department;

(5) “Demographic information,” the information required by the state registrar to describe characteristics of a registrant, the family of a registrant, and geographic locations pertinent to a registrant;

(6) “Department,” the Department of Health;

(7) “Fact of death information,” the information required by the state registrar to record the time and place a death occurs and to identify the person who is deceased. The term does not include information regarding cause and manner of death;

(8) “Fact of death record,” the portion of the death certificate that contains the fact of death information and demographic information;

(9) “Fetal death,” death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy. The death is indicated by the fact that after such expulsion or extraction, the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles;

(10) “Fetus,” the biological offspring, including the implanted embryo or unborn child, of human parents;

(11) “Final disposition,” the burial, interment, cremation, or other disposition of a dead body or fetus;

(12) “Institution,” any establishment, public or private, which provides in-patient medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment, or nursing, custodial, or domiciliary care to two or more unrelated individuals, or to which persons are committed by law;

(13) “Live birth,” the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such expulsion or extraction, breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached;

(14) “Medical certificate,” the portion of the death certificate that contains the information regarding the cause and manner of death.

(15) “System of vital registration,” the process by which vital records are collected, completed, amended, certified, filed, preserved, and incorporated into the official records of the office of vital records, and activities related thereto including the tabulation, analysis, and publication of statistical data derived from such records;

(16) “Vital records,” records of birth, death, fetal death, burial, marriage, divorce, and data related thereto as entered on forms prescribed by the department.

Source: SL 1972, ch 194, § 2; SL 1993, ch 253, § 1; SL 2000, ch 171, § 2; SL 2003, ch 186, § 1; SL 2004, ch 235, § 1; SL 2005, ch 190, § 1.