2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART IV - Vital Statistics Registry (§§ 1041 — 1325) › Chapter 85 - Deaths (§§ 1101 — 1111) › § 1103 - Information for death certificates

Death certificates shall contain the following information, which is hereby declared necessary for the legal, social and sanitary purposes to be served by the documents to be recorded:
(1) Place of death, which shall include, when occurring in the urban zone, the street and number of the house; when occurring in a suburb or settlement, the name of the same and the street and number; if in a hospital or any other institution, the name of the same shall be given instead of the street and number of the house; and the name of the barrio shall be given when the death occurs in the rural zone.
(2) Name and surnames of the deceased.
(3) Residence of the deceased, which shall be the place where he had his permanent residence, stating the town, street and number of the house if in the urban zone and the town and name of the barrio if in the rural zone.
(4) Time of residence in the municipality where the death occurred.
(5) In case of a foreigner, time of residence in Puerto Rico.
(6) Sex.
(7) Color or race.
(8) Civil status, stating if the deceased was unmarried, married, widowed or divorced, and giving, in the last three cases, the name of the surviving or previously deceased spouse.
(9) Date of birth, stating day, month and year.
(10) Age, giving years, months and days. If less than one (1) day, giving hours and minutes.
(11) Occupation. In reporting the occupation, the following information shall be given if the decedent was employed in a remunerative occupation:
(a) Trade, profession or occupation, or special kind of work;
(b) general nature of the industry, business or establishment in which the decedent was employee or employer;
(c) date on which he worked for the last time in said occupation, and
(d) years during which he worked in said occupation.
(12) Place of birth; giving the municipality if a native of Puerto Rico, or the name of the state or country if an alien.
(13) Name of the father.
(14) Place of birth of the father, giving the municipality if a native of Puerto Rico, or the state or country if an alien.
(15) Full maiden name of the mother.
(16) Place of birth of the mother, giving the municipality if a native of Puerto Rico, or the state or country if an alien.
(17) Signature and address of the person declaring the death.
(18) Cemetery where the corpse is to be interred or place to which it is to be removed, and date of interment or removal.
(19) Name and address of the undertaker or person in charge of the burial.
(20) Official signature of the keeper of the register and date of registration.
(21) Date of death, specifying day, month and year.
(22) A certificate as to the medical attendance given to the deceased; when the death occurred; last time that the dead person was seen alive; the cause of the death and also the contributory or secondary cause, if any; duration of each one of said causes and if they are attributed to dangerous or unhealthy conditions of employment; signature and address of the physician or officer issuing the medical certificate. In case of violent death, it shall be specified if the same was due to accident, suicide or homicide, date and place where it occurred and the instrument, arm, machine or object inflicting the injury which caused death. There shall likewise be specified the name and date of the surgical operation, if any, the causes which made it necessary and the organ or part of the body affected, as well as the laboratory analysis confirming the diagnosis, in case any such analysis was made during the course of the illness of the decedent. It shall likewise be specified if an autopsy was made.
Personal circumstances and statistical data (subsections (1) to (16)) of this section) shall be authenticated by the signature of the person giving the information, who may be any person having knowledge of the facts, in accordance with the provisions of § 1101 of this title.
History —Apr. 22, 1931, No. 24, p. 228, § 9, eff. 90 days after Apr. 22, 1931.