Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 216 - Department of health › Chapter 10 - Public Health Administration › Subchapter 10 - Registries › Part 1 - Rules and Regulations Governing Vital Records › Section 216-RICR-10-10-1.3 - Definitions

Current through June 14, 2024
A. Wherever used in these Regulations, the
				  terms listed below shall be construed in the following manner; and,
				  furthermore, every word importing the masculine gender only, may be construed
				  to extend to and to include females as well as males.
1. "Act" refers to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter
				  23-3, entitled "Vital Records."
2.
				  "Adoptee" refers to a person who was born in Rhode Island and whose original
				  birth certificate was sealed and a new birth record created due to an
				  adoption.
3. "Adoptee vital records
				  file" means a file operated by the Office of Vital Records that maintains
				  pre-adoption birth certificates, and includes contact preference form(s). The
				  Office of Vital Records will provide qualified adult adoptees with
				  non-certified copies of their birth certificates from this file.
4. "Adult adoptee" refers to an adoptee, born
				  in Rhode Island, as defined by R.I. Gen. Laws §
											23-3-1.
5. "Amendment" means any change, correction
				  or addition made to a vital record after filing of same; except that any minor
				  correction or addition made to a birth record less than one (1) year after the
				  date of the birth shall not be considered an amendment.
6. "Birth parent" refers to the person,
				  father or mother of genetic origin of the child, who is legally presumed under
				  the laws of Rhode Island or has been adjudged by a court of competent
				  jurisdiction to be the father or mother of genetic origin of the
				  child.
7. "Certifying physician"
				  refers to a physician who has attended a person during his last illness prior
				  to death; or the physician declaring a person dead; or, if death occurred in a
				  hospital, a registered hospital medical officer duly appointed by the hospital
				  director or administrator.
8.
				  "Community of resident" means the city or town within the State of Rhode Island
				  of a person's home address at the time of his/her marriage or death or of
				  his/her mother's home address at the time of his/her birth.
9. "Contact preference form" means a form
				  prepared and maintained by the Office of Vital Records that birth parent(s) of
				  adoptees may file to express his or her preference regarding contact with the
				  adoptee. The birth parent(s) shall be given the contact options found in R.I.
				  Gen. Laws §
											23-3-15(g)(2).
				  The contact preference form shall also include language informing the birth
				  parent(s) of their ability to provide genetic, social, and health history to
				  the Passive Voluntary Adoption Mutual Consent Registry as defined in R.I. Gen.
				  Laws §
											15-7.2-1.
10. "Dead body" means a lifeless human body
				  or parts of such body or bones thereof from the state of which it reasonably
				  may be concluded that death occurred.
11. "Director" means the Director of the
				  Rhode Island Department of Health.
12. "Fetal death" means death prior to the
				  complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human
				  conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy; the death is indicated
				  by the fact that after such expulsion or extraction the fetus does not breathe
				  or show any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of
				  the umbilical cord, or definite movement of the voluntary muscles.
13. "Filing" means the presentation of a
				  certificate, report, or other record provided for in law and in these
				  Regulations, for registration by the local registrar and/or the State
				  Registrar, as specified in these Regulations. (See "Registration").
14. "Final disposition" means the burial,
				  interment, cremation, or other disposition of a dead body or fetus.
15. "Foundling" refers to an infant of
				  unknown parentage.
16. "Funeral
				  director" means a person licensed to practice pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws
				  Chapter 5-33.2.
17. "Institution"
				  means any establishment, public or private, which provides in-patient medical,
				  surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment; or nursing, custodial, or
				  domiciliary care to two (2) or more unrelated individuals; or to which persons
				  are committed by law.
18. "Issue"
				  refers to lineal descendants of the person on the birth certificate and/or
				  record (children, grandchildren and their children to the remotest
				  degree).
19. "Live birth" means the
				  complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human
				  conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such
				  expulsion or extraction, breathes or shows any other evidence of life, such as
				  beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of
				  the voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut, or the
				  placenta is attached.
20. "Local
				  registrar" means a city or town clerk in Rhode Island or any other person
				  designated for that purpose by the governing body of a city or town in Rhode
				  Island pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws §
											23-3-6.
21. "Office" means the Office of Vital
				  Records of the Rhode Island Department of Health.
22. "Physician" refers to a person authorized
				  or licensed to practice medicine pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 5-37, and,
				  as used in these Rules and Regulations Governing Vital Records only, a person
				  licensed as a certified nurse practitioner pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter
				  5-34 or licensed as a physician's assistant pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter
				  5-54.
23. "Registrant(s)" means the
				  subject(s) of the vital record.
24.
				  "Registration" means the acceptance by the local registrar and/or the State
				  Registrar and the incorporation in their official records of certificates,
				  reports, or other records provided for in law, or in these
				  Regulations.
25. "Delayed
				  registration" means the registration of any vital record one (1) year or more
				  after the date of occurrence of the vital event.
26. "Late registration" means the
				  registration of any vital record twenty (20) or more days after the last day of
				  the month of occurrence, but less than one (1) year following the vital
				  event.
27. "Signing" or "Signature"
				  means the application of either a hand signature to a paper record or an
				  electronic process approved by the State Registrar of Vital Records.
28. "R.I. Gen. Laws" means the General Laws
				  of Rhode Island, as amended.
29.
				  "State registrar" means the State Registrar of Vital Records, who is also the
				  Chief of the Office of Vital Records, appointed by the Director pursuant to
				  R.I. Gen. Laws §
											23-3-4.
30. "System of vital records" means the
				  registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital
				  records, and activities related thereto, including the tabulation, analysis,
				  and publication of statistical data derived from such records.
31. "These regulations" mean all parts of
				  Rhode Island Rules and Regulations Governing Vital Records.
32. "Vital records" means a birth, death,
				  fetal death, or marriage, or divorce and the legal registration and data
				  collection of the demographic and medical data related to those
				  events.