§47. Compulsory registration of deaths and spontaneous fetal deaths (stillbirths)

            A. A certificate of every death and every spontaneous fetal death except as noted in R.S. 40:49(B)(9) shall be filed with a registrar within five days after its occurrence. If the place of death or spontaneous fetal death is not known, the certificate shall be filed with the state registrar within five days after the finding of the body. In any case, a certificate shall be filed prior to interment, cremation, removal, or other disposition of the body. The place where the body is found shall be known as the place of death. If the date of death is unknown, it shall be determined by approximation.

            B. When spontaneous fetal death, required to be reported by this Section, occurs without medical attendance at or immediately after the delivery or when inquiry is required by R.S. 40:34.10(19)(d) the coroner shall investigate the cause of death and shall prepare and file the certificate within five days.

            C. When a spontaneous fetal death occurs in a moving conveyance and the fetus is first removed from the conveyance in this state or when a dead fetus is found in this state and the place of fetal death is unknown, the fetal death shall be reported in this state. The place where the fetus was first removed from the conveyance or the dead fetus was found shall be considered the place of fetal death.

            Acts 1979, No. 776, §1; Acts 1986, No. 876, §1; Acts 2014, No. 791, §14.