Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-26. Persons required to keep records
(a) Every person in charge of an institution, as defined in this chapter, shall keep a record of personal particulars and data concerning each person admitted or confined to that institution. This record shall include the information required by the standard certificates of birth, death, and fetal death forms issued under the provisions of this chapter. The record shall be made at the time of admission from information provided by those persons, but when it cannot be so obtained, it shall be obtained from relatives or other persons acquainted with the facts. The name and address of the person providing the information shall be a part of the record.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-26
- Dead body: means a lifeless human body or parts of a lifeless human body or its bones from the state of which it reasonably may be concluded that death recently occurred. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
- Fetal death: means 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 the 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 the voluntary muscles. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
- Filing: means the presentation of a certificate, report, or other record provided for in this chapter, of a birth, death, fetal death, adoption, marriage, or divorce for registration by the division of vital records. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
- Institution: means any establishment, public or private, that provides in-patient medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment, or nursing, custodial or domiciliary care to two (2) or more unrelated individuals, or to which persons are committed by law. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
- person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
- Vital records: means records of birth, death, fetal death, marriage, divorce, and data related to those records. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
(b) When a dead human body is released or disposed of by an institution, the person in charge of the institution shall keep a record showing the name of the deceased, date of death, name and address of the person to whom the body is released, date of removal from the institution, or if finally disposed of by the institution, the date, place, and manner of disposition shall be recorded.
(c) A funeral director, embalmer, or other person who removes from the place of death or transports or finally disposes of a dead body or fetus, in addition to filing any certificate or other form required by this chapter, shall keep a record which shall identify the body, and information pertaining to his receipt, removal, and delivery of the body that may be prescribed in regulations adopted by the director of health.
(d) Records maintained under this section shall be retained for a period of not less than five (5) years and shall be made available for inspection by the state registrar of vital records or his or her representative upon demand.
History of Section.
P.L. 1961, ch. 87, § 1.