Coroner must state the disease or condition directly leading to death, antecedent causes, other significant conditions contributing to death, and other required medical and health section data on the death certificate.
Nothing in this section authorizes the further disclosure of confidential medical information ... described in this section by the chief medical examiner-coroner or any of the prehospital emergency medical care personnel except as otherwise authorized by law.
The second section of a certificate of live birth, the electronic file information collected under 102426, and the second section of a certificate of fetal death under 103025 shall be confidential. Access to such confidential information is limited to department staff, local registrar's staff, local health department if approved by registrar county coroner, persons with valid scientific interest as determined by State Registrar, the parent signing the certificate, person named on certificate, person petitioning adoption.
The physician or surgeon last in attendance with a patient must complete and attest to the medical and health section data and the time of death for the purposes of registering a death. If the patient is in a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility, a licensed physician assistant may complete and attest to such provided that the assistant is legally authorized to do so and has visited the patient within 72 hours before death. When coroners are required to fill out such data, then they must certify and attest to the facts.
The second section of the death certificate shall include the disease or condition leading directly to death and antecedent causes, operations and major findings thereof, accident and injury information, and information regarding whether decedent was pregnant at the time of death or a year prior to death.
When information originally provided in the medical and health data section of any record of death, fetal death, or live birth is modified, the certifying physician or coroner may make a declaration stating the changes needed to make the information correct and file it with the state or local registrar.
If a coroner is unable to establish the identity of decedent by other means, the coroner may have a dental examination performed. If given the results of the dental examination the coroner is still unable to identify the decedent, he shall forward the dental exam records to the Department of Justice.
Nothing in this section shall preclude a medical examiner or other physician from ordering or performing a test to detect HIV on a cadaver when an autopsy is performed or body parts are donated pursuant to the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
In the event of the demise of a person afflicted with the reportable disease or condition, the coroner or county health officer shall notify the funeral director charged with removing the decedent from the coroner's office of the reportable disease.
The county health officer shall immediately notify the prehospital emergency medical care person who has been exposed to a person afflicted with a disease or condition listed as reportable, upon receiving the report from a health facility. The county health officer shall not disclose the name of the patient or other identifying characteristics to the prehospital emergency medical care person.
