144.26 Death certificate.
1. a. A death certificate for each death which occurs in this state shall be filed as directed by the state registrar within three days after the death and prior to final disposition, and shall be registered by the county registrar if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this chapter. A death certificate shall include the social security number, if provided, of the deceased person. All information including the certifying physician’s, physician assistant’s, or advanced registered nurse practitioner’s name shall be typewritten.
b. A physician assistant or an advanced registered nurse practitioner authorized to sign a death certificate shall be licensed in this state and shall have been in charge of the deceased patient’s care.
2. All information included on a death certificate may be provided as mutually agreed upon by the division and the child support recovery unit, including by automated exchange.
3. a. The county in which a dead body is found is the county of death. If death occurs in a moving conveyance, the county in which the dead body is first removed from the conveyance is the county of death.
b. If a decedent died outside of the county of the decedent’s residence, the state registrar shall send a copy of the decedent’s death certificate and any amendments to the county registrar of the county of the decedent’s residence. The county registrar shall record a death certificate received pursuant to this paragraph in the same records in which the death certificate of a decedent who died within the county is recorded. The state registrar may provide the county registrars with electronic access to vital records in lieu of the requirements of this paragraph.
4. a. The department shall establish by rule procedures for making a finding of presumption of death when no body can be found. The department shall also provide by rule the responsibility for completing and signing the medical certification of cause of death in such circumstances. The presumptive death certificate shall be in a form prescribed by the state registrar and filed in the county where the death was presumed to occur.
b. The division shall provide for the correction, substitution, or removal of a presumptive death certificate when the body of the person is later found, additional facts are discovered, or the person is discovered to be alive.
5. Upon the activation of an electronic death record system, each person with a duty related to death certificates shall participate in the electronic death record system. A person with a duty related to a death certificate includes but is not limited to a physician as defined in section 135.1, a physician assistant, an advanced registered nurse practitioner, a funeral director, and a county recorder.
[SS15, §587-b; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2319; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, §141.3; C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, S81, §144.26; 81 Acts, ch 64, §5]
88 Acts, ch 1158, §40; 97 Acts, ch 159, §14; 97 Acts, ch 175, §226; 2002 Acts, ch 1108, §11; 2011 Acts, ch 26, §2; 2012 Acts, ch 1069, §1, 3; 2013 Acts, ch 140, §17
Referred to in §144.35, 331.611, 633.520
Structure Iowa Code
Chapter 144 - VITAL STATISTICS
Section 144.2 - Division of records and statistics.
Section 144.3 - Rules adopted.
Section 144.5 - Duties of registrar.
Section 144.9 - County recorder as registrar.
Section 144.11 - Public access to records.
Section 144.12 - Forms uniform.
Section 144.12A - Declaration of paternity registry.
Section 144.13 - Birth certificates.
Section 144.13A - Fees — use of funds — electronic birth certificate system.
Section 144.13B - Waiver of fees — military service.
Section 144.15 - Delayed registrations of birth.
Section 144.16 - Delayed registration of death or marriage.
Section 144.17 - Petition to establish certificate.
Section 144.18 - Court hearing.
Section 144.19 - Adoption certificate.
Section 144.21 - Amended record.
Section 144.22 - Clerk to report to state registrar.
Section 144.23 - State registrar to issue new certificate.
Section 144.24 - Substituting new for original birth certificates — inspection.
Section 144.25 - No previous certificate — procedure.
Section 144.25A - Certificate of birth — foreign and international adoptions.
Section 144.26 - Death certificate.
Section 144.28 - Medical certification.
Section 144.29 - Fetal deaths.
Section 144.29A - Termination of pregnancy reporting — legislative intent.
Section 144.30 - Funeral director’s duty — fetal death certificate.
Section 144.31 - Medical certification — fetal death.
Section 144.31A - Certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth.
Section 144.32 - Burial transit permit.
Section 144.33 - Bodies brought into state.
Section 144.34 - Disinterment — permit.
Section 144.35 - Extensions of time by rules.
Section 144.36 - Marriage certificate filed — prohibited information.
Section 144.37 - Dissolution and annulment records.
Section 144.38 - Amendment of official record.
Section 144.39 - Change of name.
Section 144.40 - Paternity of children — birth certificates.
Section 144.41 - Amending local records.
Section 144.42 - Reproduction of original records.
Section 144.43 - Vital records closed to inspection — exceptions.
Section 144.43A - Mutual consent voluntary adoption registry.
Section 144.44 - Permits for research.
Section 144.45 - Certified copies.
Section 144.45A - Commemorative birth and marriage certificates.
Section 144.46A - Vital records fund.
Section 144.47 - Persons confined in institutions.
Section 144.48 - Institutions — dead persons.
Section 144.49 - Additional record by funeral director.
Section 144.50 - Length of time records to be kept.
Section 144.51 - Information by others furnished on demand.
Section 144.52 - Unlawful acts — punishment.
Section 144.53 - Other acts — simple misdemeanors.
Section 144.54 - Report to county attorney.
Section 144.55 - Attorney general to assist in enforcement.
Section 144.57 - Public safety officer death — required notice — autopsy.