New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 7 - HEALTH › Chapter 3 - STATE MEDICAL INVESTIGATOR'S OFFICE › Part 2 - POLICIES OF THE OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL INVESTIGATOR › Section 7.3.2.13 - CERTIFICATION OF DEATH

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A.
				Citations and Regulations:
(1)
										24-11-6
				NMSA 1978: If, after reviewing the body, notifying the law enforcement agency
				with jurisdiction and making an investigation, the state or district medical
				investigator is satisfied that the death was not caused by criminal act or
				omission and that there are no suspicious circumstances about the death, he
				shall execute a death certificate in the form required by law. He shall also
				execute a certificate on a form prescribed by the health and social services
				department [health and environment department], authorizing release of the body
				to the funeral director for burial. In those cases in which the investigation
				is performed by a deputy medical investigator, if, after viewing the body,
				notifying the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction and making an
				investigation, he is satisfied that the death was not caused by criminal act or
				omission and that there are no suspicious circumstances about the death, he
				shall report this finding to the state or district medical investigator under
				whose direction he is working. Upon receipt of a report from a deputy medical
				investigator under this subsection, the state or district medical investigator
				may execute a death certificate and a certificate authorizing release of the
				body for burial.
(2)
										24-14-20 NMSA
				1978:
(a) A death certificate for each death
				which occurs in this state shall be filed within five days after the death and
				prior to final disposition. The death certificate shall be registered by the
				state registrar if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this
				section, subject to the exception provided in Section
				24-14-24 NMSA
				1978; provided that:
(i) if the place is
				unknown, but the dead body is found in this state, a death certificate shall be
				filed with a local registrar within ten days after the occurrence. The place
				where the body is found shall be shown as the place of death. If the date of
				death is unknown, it shall be approximated by the state medical investigator;
				and
(ii) if death occurs in a
				moving conveyance in the United States, and the body is first removed from the
				conveyance in this state, the death shall be registered in this state and the
				place where the body is first removed shall be considered the place of death.
				When a death occurs on a moving conveyance while in international waters or air
				space or in a foreign country or its air space and the body is first removed
				from the conveyance in this state, the death shall be registered in this state
				but the certificate shall show the actual place of death insofar as can be
				determined by the state medical investigator.
(b) The funeral service practitioner or
				person acting as funeral service practitioner who first assumes custody of a
				dead body shall file the death certificate. He shall obtain the personal data
				from the next of kin or the best qualified person or source available. He shall
				obtain the medical certification of cause of death.
(c) The medical certification shall be
				completed and signed within forty-eight hours after death by the physician in
				charge of the patient's care for the illness or condition which resulted in
				death except when inquiry is required by law. In the absence of the physician,
				or with his approval, the certificate may be completed and signed by his
				associate physician, the chief medical officer of the institution in which
				death occurred or the physician who performed an autopsy on the decedent,
				provided such individual has access to the medical history of the case, views
				the deceased at or after death and death is due to natural causes.
(d) When death occurs without medical
				attendance as set forth in Paragraph C of this section [now Subparagraph (c) of
				Paragraph (2) or Subsection A of 7.3.2.13 NMAC], or when death occurs more than
				ten days after the decedent was last treated by a physician, the case shall be
				referred to the state medical investigator for investigation to determine and
				certify the cause of death.
(e) An
				amended death certificate based on an anatomical observation must be filed
				within thirty days of the completion of an autopsy.
(3)
										24-14-21
				NMSA 1978:
(a) When a death occurring in this
				state has not been registered, a certificate may be filed in accordance with
				regulations of the board of medical investigators. The certificate shall be
				registered subject to evidentiary requirements as prescribed by regulation to
				substantiate the alleged facts of death.
(b) Certificates of death registered one year
				or more after the date of death shall be marked "delayed" and shall show on
				their face the date of the delayed registration.
(4)
										24-14-24 NMSA
				1978:
(a) The department may, by regulation
				and upon conditions as it may prescribe to assure compliance with the purposes
				of the Vital Statistics Act [24-14-1 to 2414-20 to
				24-14-31
				NMSA 1978], provide for the extension of the periods prescribed in Sections
				24-14-20,
				24-1423 NMSA 1978 for the filing of death certificates, spontaneous fetal death
				reports, medical certifications of cause of death and for the obtaining of
				burial-transit permits in cases where compliance with the applicable prescribed
				period would result in undue hardship.
(b) Regulations of the department may provide
				for the issuance of a burial-transit permit prior to the filing of a
				certificate upon conditions designed to assure compliance with the purposes of
				the Vital Statistics Act in cases where compliance with the requirement that
				the certificate be filed prior to the issuance of the permit would result in
				undue hardship.
(5)
										24-14-25
				NMSA 1978:
(a) A certificate or report
				registered under the Vital Statistics Act [24-14-1 to
				24-14-17,
				24-14-20 to
				2414-31 NMSA 1978] may be amended only in accordance with that act and
				regulations thereunder adopted by the department to protect the integrity and
				accuracy of vital statistics records.
(b) A certificate or report that is amended
				under this section shall be marked "amended," except as otherwise provided in
				this section. The date of the amendment and a summary description of the
				evidence submitted in support of the amendment shall be endorsed on or made a
				part of the record. The department shall prescribe by regulation the conditions
				under which additions or minor corrections may be made to certificates or
				records within one year after the date of the event without the certificate or
				record being marked "amended."