Duties of local Registrar when filing NY State Death Certificates
Duties of LocalRegistrar when filing New York~~ate Death Certificates
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Death Certificates must be filed within 72 hours of the death or the c3; wI{ e.L l}tltni 'fV7JK
finding of the body. Usually the death certificate is filed by a Iicens~d;'New "PLtr<-fr
York State funeral director but at times may be filed by a hospital, coroner (j b~ of- ~lflVl!
or medical examiner if the body ,is to be held mQr~ than 72 hours after the ~
death or finding the body. The Regis~rar,their d,putyor subregistrarinthe ~ ~'&I'\,,-phc o?
registration district where the death ,occurred, or the, body was .found, "may , ~ lCoM 0<~ I IV({
accept the completed Death CertificateforfiUng., Upon feceipt of the 'death@ ~~~~~:;C ~~
certificate the registrar, deputy or subregistrarwiU issuetheOOH1555" " -
,Burial - Transit Pel111it The same DQH 1555 form is used if the body is to ~ ~(o f1 cTVtIlil ~ ,
be interred, vaulted, cremated ,removed outside of the county 'in which the, ' '"\"",f'Ul..
, death occurreci, temporarilY,held including,a.natomicalgifts (bodies , ~
donated tos~i~nce). The, burial permit (DOH 1555) mList accompany the "
body if the body is tobetransported"by common carrier (plane, train, etc.)
or moved to another states jurisdiction prior to the final disposition. If the
Funeral Direetorwi~he$tomove,the body outside of the, county (within'the
New Y ork)~,n~,~oe$\ not.havethenecessary.in(orl11ationto 'complete the ',."
death certitic~tethejiLocal', Regis~ar may give'verbal,.permisston :to: remove ",j
the body pr"'!(id~dtheFuneral,,Director has (1)btai ned': a' death certificate by
the attencUng physician, coroner or medical examiner. If such petmission
is granted, the funeral director is ,still required to complete and file the
death certificate with the local registrars within the 72-hourtime limit
NEVERpre-sign or issue burial permits in advance of receiving the
completed death certificate for filing.
Note: If a body is found, a death certificate is considered complete and
'acceptable for filing containing minimal information John (Jane) Doe, the date,
the location the body was'found and the signature of the Coroner or Medical
Examiner. Additional information can be queried by the local registrar or New
,York State and 'updated when gathered. .
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CORRECTIONS
Corrections and updated information to death certificates may be
made using correction forms DOH-299, or DOH-1999. Form DOH-299 is
used to correct personal or statistical.particulars,.concerriing the deceased
on the upper half of the death certificate. Please refer to Chapter IX of the
Local. Registrar Procedures. Manual (Blue Book) on death corrections
indicating required documentary evidence to make the change. Physicians
and funeral dir~ctors to add or change medical certification or burial
Information use form DOH-1999. No documentary evidence is required for .
this typ,e ofchailge. Both correction forms provide space at the bottom for
the registrar's signature, indicating the information has been entered on
the local record before forwarding the information to Vital Records. . If you
.are. not sure the correction can be made either call us prior to making the
update or forward the information to us not signing the correction forms
and we will notify you when the c~rrectionis made on the state record.
QUERY LETTERS
The Department of Health reviews all newly filed death certificates' for
. completeness and accuracy. . A Query Letter is sent to the local registrar for each
certificate that do~s not pass review. The Query Letter identifies the record and the
item( s) in question. A facsimile certificate on which the needed information is entered is
provided. Directions are included in the Query Letter. .
The local registrar forwards the Query Letter to the person responsible for
entering the original inf~rmation on the certificate. This may be the physician, funefaI
director, coroner, medical examiner, medical records director, etc. IF a response is not .
received within two w~eks, the local registrar should follow-up with.the person'to whom
. the query Letter was sent Contact this individual periodically until a response is
received. . .
When the Query Letter is returned, be certain that the requested information was
.supplied and, signed by the responsible person in the appropriate space provided below
the facsimile certificate. The local registrar enters theinfomiation in the local record,
signs the Query Letter in the appropnate space below the facsimile certificate .and .
. forwards the completed Query Letter to Vital Records.
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