Article 1. Duty Of Registering Death of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 102. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 6. >> Article 1.

Each death shall be registered with the local registrar of births and deaths in the district in which the death was officially pronounced or the body was found, within eight calendar days after death and prior to any disposition of the human remains.

(a) On or before January 1, 2005, the department shall implement an Internet-based electronic death registration system for the creation, storage, and transfer of death registration information.
  (b) The electronic death registration system implemented pursuant to this section shall protect the proper use of the death registration information created, stored, and transferred within the system.
  (c) The electronic death registration system that is implemented pursuant to this section shall be subject to any limitation placed on the accessibility and release of personally identifying information contained in those death records by any other provision of law or subsequently enacted legislation.

A funeral director, or person acting in lieu thereof, shall prepare the certificate and register it with the local registrar.

The State Registrar, at his or her discretion, may incorporate computer or telephone facsimile technology, or both, in the statewide program of death and fetal death registration, including, but not limited to, the issuing of permits for disposition of human remains. Nothing in this section shall limit the ability of local districts to file certificates of death and fetal death manually within the local registration districts.

The funeral director shall obtain the required information other than medical and health section data from the person or source best qualified to supply this information.

The medical and health section data and the time of death shall be completed and attested to by the physician and surgeon last in attendance, or in the case of a patient in a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility at the time of death, by the physician and surgeon last in attendance or by a licensed physician assistant under the supervision of the physician and surgeon last in attendance if the physician and surgeon or licensed physician assistant is legally authorized to certify and attest to these facts, and if the physician assistant has visited the patient within 72 hours of the patient's death. In the event the licensed physician assistant certifies the medical and health section data and the time of death, then the physician assistant shall also provide on the document the name of the last attending physician and surgeon and provide the coroner with a copy of the certificate of death. However, the medical health section data and the time of death shall be completed and attested to by the coroner in those cases in which he or she is required to complete the medical and health section data and certify and attest to these facts.

The medical and health section data and the physician's or coroner's certification shall be completed by the attending physician within 15 hours after the death, or by the coroner within three days after examination of the body. The physician shall within 15 hours after the death deposit the certificate at the place of death, or deliver it to the attending funeral director at his or her place of business or at the office of the physician.

An embalmer may authorize his or her signature to be affixed to the certificate after he or she has embalmed a body, as required by this chapter, by a written special power of attorney that shall be retained for a period of one year.