§ 4100 — Vital statistics; functions, powers and duties of the department, commissioner and public health council

§ 4100. Vital statistics; functions, powers and duties of the\ndepartment, commissioner and public health council. 1. The department\nshall, except in the city of New York:\n (a) have charge of the registration of births and deaths;\n (b) procure the faithful registration of births and deaths;\n (c) provide the necessary instructions and forms for obtaining and\npreserving records of births and deaths; and,\n (d) be charged with the uniform and thorough enforcement of the\nprovisions of this article throughout the state.\n 2. The commissioner shall:\n (a) have general supervision of vital statistics;\n (b) provide suitably equipped offices for the permanent and safe\npreservation of all records received or made under the provisions of\nthis article;\n (c) prepare, print, and supply to all registrars all forms used in\nregistering, recording and preserving the returns, or in otherwise\ncarrying out the purposes of this article;\n (d) prepare and issue such detailed instructions, not inconsistent\nwith the sanitary code, as may be required to procure the uniform\nobservance of the provisions of this article and the maintenance of a\ngood system of registration;\n (e) examine the certificates received monthly and if any such are\nincomplete or unsatisfactory, he shall require such further information\nto be supplied as may be necessary to make the record complete and\nsatisfactory;\n (f) arrange, and permanently preserve the certificates in a systematic\nmanner;\n (g) prepare and maintain a complete typewritten, printed, photographic\nor magnetically stored index of all births and deaths registered; said\nindex to be arranged, in the case of deaths, by the names of decedents,\nand in the case of births, by the names of fathers, or the names of\nmothers if the names of the fathers do not appear; and\n (h) prescribe and prepare the necessary methods and forms for\nobtaining and preserving records and statistics of autopsies which are\nconducted by a coroner or by a medical examiner, or by his order, within\nthe state of New York, and shall require all those performing such\nautopsies, for the purpose of determining the cause of death or the\nmeans or manner of death, to enter upon such record the pathological\nappearances and findings embodying such information as may be\nprescribed, and to append thereto the diagnosis of the cause of death\nand the means or manner of death.\n (i) upon notification by the division of criminal justice services\nthat a person who was born in the state is a missing child, flag the\ncertificate record of that person in such manner that whenever a copy of\nthe record is requested, he or she shall be alerted to the fact that the\nrecord is that of a missing child. The commissioner shall also notify\nthe appropriate registrar to likewise flag his or her records. The\ncommissioner or registrar shall immediately report to the local law\nenforcement authority and the division of criminal justice services any\nrequest concerning flagged birth records or knowledge as to the\nwhereabouts of any missing child. Upon notification by the division of\ncriminal justice services that the missing child has been recovered, the\ncommissioner shall remove the flag from the person's certificate record\nand shall notify any other previously notified registrar to remove the\nflag from his or her record. In the city of New York, the commissioner\nof the department of health for the city of New York shall implement the\nrequirements of this paragraph.\n 3. The public health council may from time to time establish such\nrules and regulations in the sanitary code supplementary to the\nprovisions of this article and not inconsistent therewith, as it may\ndeem necessary, in relation to the registration of births, deaths and\nfetal deaths. Such rules and regulations shall be observed by all\npersons upon whom duties are imposed by this chapter in connection with\nthe registration of births, deaths and fetal deaths.\n 4. Certified nurse practitioners completing a death certificate for a\ndeath occurring in the city of New York shall have the same authority\nand responsibility to complete the certificate as they would have if the\ndeath occurred outside such city; provided, however, that such\nresponsibility shall be exercised in accordance with the rules and\nregulations of the city of New York.\n