NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1979 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 95

SENATE BILL 145

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND THE VITAL STATISTICS LAW REGARDING FETAL DEATH REGISTRATION AND BIRTH REGISTRATION.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 130-43 is rewritten to read:

"§ 130-43.  Fetal death registration. — (a) Each spontaneous fetal death occurring in the State of 20 completed weeks gestation or more, as calculated from the first day of the last normal menstrual period until the day of delivery, shall be reported within five days after delivery to the local registrar of the registration district in which the delivery occurred. The report shall be made on a form prescribed and furnished by the State registrar.

(b)        When fetal death occurs in a hospital or other medical facility, the person in charge of the facility or his designated representative shall obtain the cause of fetal death and other required medical information over the signature of the attending physician, and shall prepare and file the report with the local registrar.

(c)        When a fetal death occurs outside of a hospital or other medical facility, the physician in attendance at or immediately after the delivery shall prepare and file the report. When a fetal death is attended by a physician's assistant or a certified nurse-midwife, the supervising physician shall prepare and file the report. Fetal deaths attended by all other persons shall be treated as deaths without medical attendance as provided for in G.S. 130-46 and the medical examiner shall prepare and file the report."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 130-46 is amended by rewriting subsection (c) to read:

"(c)       The medical certification shall be completed and signed by the physician in charge of the patient's care for the illness or condition which resulted in death, except when the death falls within the circumstances described in G.S. 130-198. In the absence of the physician or with his approval, the certificate may be completed and signed by an associate physician, the chief medical officer of the hospital or facility in which the death occurred, or a physician who performed an autopsy upon the decedent, provided such individual has access to the medical history of the deceased and views the deceased at or after death, and provided further that death is due to natural causes. Indefinite and unsatisfactory terms denoting only symptoms of disease or conditions resulting from disease, will not be held sufficient as a cause of death, and any certificate containing any such indefinite or unsatisfactory terms, as defined by the State registrar, shall be returned to the person making the medical certificate for correction and more definite statement."

Sec. 3.  G.S. 130-46 is further amended by rewriting the first sentence of paragraph (d) to read:

"It shall be the duty of the physician or medical examiner making the medical certification as to the cause of death to complete the medical certification no more than three days after death."

Sec. 4.  G.S. 130-50 is rewritten to read:

"§ 130-50.  Birth registration. — (a) A certificate of birth for each live birth, regardless of the gestation period, which occurs in this State shall be filed with the local registrar of the district in which the birth occurs within five days after such birth and shall be registered by such registrar if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this section. Such certificate shall be on the form adopted and furnished by the State registrar.

(b)        When a birth occurs in a hospital or other medical facility, the person in charge of the facility or his designated representative shall obtain the personal data, prepare the certificate, secure the signatures required by the certificate, and file it with the local registrar. The physician or other person in attendance shall provide the medical information required by the certificate and certify to the facts of birth within five days after the birth. If the physician or other person in attendance does not certify to the facts of birth within the five-day period, the person in charge of the facility may complete and sign the certificate.

(c)        When a birth occurs outside a hospital or other medical facility, the certificate shall be prepared and filed by one of the following in the indicated order of priority:

(1)        the physician in attendance at or immediately after the birth, or in the absence of such a person,

(2)        any other person in attendance at or immediately after the birth, or in the absence of such a person,

(3)        the father, the mother, or, in the absence of the father and the inability of the mother, the person in charge of the premises where the birth occurred.

(d)        When a birth occurs on a moving conveyance and the child is first removed from the conveyance in this State, the birth shall be registered in the registration district where the child is first removed from the conveyance, and such place shall be considered the place of birth.

(e)        If the mother was married at the time of either conception or birth, or between conception and birth, the name of the husband shall be entered on the certificate as the father of the child and the surname of the child shall be the same as that of the husband, unless paternity has been determined otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction, in which case the name of the father as determined by the court shall be entered.

(f)         If the mother was not married at the time of either conception or birth or between conception and birth, the name of the father shall not be entered on the certificate without the written consent, under oath, of both the father and the mother, in which case, upon written request of both parents, the surname of the child shall be entered on the certificate as that of the father. In all other cases a child born out of wedlock shall take the same surname as that of the mother."

Sec. 5.  G.S. 130-51 is amended by substituting the words "one year" wherever the words "four years" appear in both the title and the body of the section.

Sec. 6.  G.S. 130-52 is amended by substituting the words "one year" wherever the words "four years" appear in both the title and the body of the section.

Sec. 7.  G.S. 130-54 is rewritten to read:

"§ 130-54.  Contents of birth certificate. — The certificate of birth shall contain, as a minimum, those items recommended by the federal agency responsible for national vital statistics, except as the same may be amended or charged by the State registrar. Information contained in certificates or reports authorized by this Article may be filed and registered by photographic, electronic or other means as prescribed by the State registrar."

Sec. 8.  G.S. 130-56 is rewritten to read:

"§ 130-56.  Persons required to keep records. — (a) All persons in charge of hospitals or other institutions, public or private, to which persons resort for treatment of diseases or confinement, or to which persons are committed by process of law, shall make a record of personal data concerning each person admitted or confined to such institution. The record shall include such information as required for the certificates of birth and death and the reports of spontaneous fetal death required by this Article. The record shall be made at the time of admission from information provided by the person being admitted or confined, but when it cannot be so obtained, the information shall be obtained from relatives or other persons acquainted with the facts.

(b)        When a dead body or dead fetus of 20 weeks gestation or more is released or disposed of by an institution, the person in charge of the institution shall keep a record showing the name of the decedent, date of death, name and address of the person to whom the body or fetus is released, and the date of removal from the institution. If final disposition is made by the institution, the date, place, and manner of disposition shall also be recorded.

(c)        A funeral director, embalmer, or other person who removes from the place of death, transports or makes final disposition of a dead body or fetus, in addition to filing any certificate or other report required by this Article or regulations promulgated hereunder, shall keep a record which shall identify the body, and such information pertaining to the receipt, removal, delivery, burial, or cremation of such body as may be required by the State registrar.

(d)        Records maintained under this section shall be retained for a period of not less than three years and shall be made available for inspection by the State registrar or his representative upon demand."

Sec. 9.  G.S. 130-63(b) is amended to read:

"(b)      The State Registrar shall furnish to the register of deeds upon request a copy of each birth and death certificate regarding a resident of such register's county which was filed in a county other than the county of residence; provided that such copy shall not be furnished in the case of a child born out of wedlock. Such copies shall be forwarded within 90 days, through the local health department, to the register of deeds of the county of residence."

Sec. 10.  This act shall become effective July 1, 1979.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 27th day of February, 1979.