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Upon request a conceptus may be disposed of in a manner provided for human remains generally and in accordance with a disposition permit issued pursuant to 24 RCNY Health Code Article 205.
(Amended City Record 10/8/2024, eff. 11/7/2024)
When used in this title:
(a) "Burial" means interment of human remains in the ground or in a tomb, vault, crypt, cell or mausoleum, and includes any other usual means of final disposal of human remains other than cremation.
(b) "Cremation" means the burning of human remains in a crematory.
(c) "Human remains" or "remains" means all or any part of the dead body of a human being but does not include human ashes recovered after cremation. For purposes of this Article a conceptus of any gestational age for which the issuance of a disposition permit pursuant to 24 RCNY Health Code § 205.21 has been requested shall be treated as human remains.
(d) "Hospice" means a program issued a certificate of approval pursuant to Article 40 of the Public Health Law and defined as such in § 4002 of said law.
(e) "Person in control of disposition" means, in accordance with all of the provisions of § 4201 of the Public Health Law, the following persons who are eighteen years of age or older in descending order of priority:
(1) the person designated in a written instrument executed pursuant to the provisions of § 4201 of the Public Health Law;
(2) the decedent's surviving spouse;
(2-a) the decedent's surviving domestic partner;
(3) any of the decedent's surviving children;
(4) either of the decedent's surviving parents;
(5) any of the decedent's surviving siblings;
(6) a guardian appointed pursuant to article seventeen or seventeen-a of the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act or article eighty-one of the Mental Hygiene Law;
(7) any person who would be entitled to share in the estate of the decedent as specified in § 4-1.1 of the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law, with the person in closest relationship having the highest priority;
(8) a duly appointed fiduciary of the estate of the decedent;
(9) a close friend or relative who is reasonably familiar with the decedent's wishes, including the decedent's religious or moral beliefs, when no person higher on this list is reasonably available, willing, or competent to act, provided that such person has executed a written statement pursuant to subdivision seven of § 4201 of the Public Health Law; or
(10) a chief fiscal officer of a county or a public administrator appointed pursuant to article twelve or thirteen of the surrogate's court procedure act, or any other person acting on behalf of the decedent, provided that such person has executed a written statement pursuant to subdivision seven of § 4201 of the Public Health Law.
(Amended City Record 10/8/2024, eff. 11/7/2024)
(a) When a death occurs in the City, it shall be reported to the Department as follows:
(1) If the death is from natural causes and occurs in a hospital, or en route thereto, or while under the care of a hospice, by the person in charge of the hospital or hospice, or his or her designee; or,
(2) If the death is from natural causes and occurs elsewhere than in a hospital, or en route thereto, or while not under the care of a hospice, by the licensed physician in attendance or by such physician's duly authorized medical associate, provided such associate reviews the medical records of the decedent and certifies that he or she has found no evidence of suspicious or unusual circumstances; or,
(3) If the death is investigated by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner pursuant to Title 17, Chapter 2 of the Administrative Code, and jurisdiction over the remains is assumed by that office, by a medical examiner within the Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
(b) The person required to report a death pursuant to paragraphs (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of this section shall file a certificate of death and a confidential medical report, and the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, when required to report pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of this section, shall file a certificate of death only. Reports shall be filed within 24 hours after the death or the finding of the remains with any office maintained and designated by the Department for such purposes.
(c) In circumstances where the person required to report a death pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section does not file a report thereof electronically, the requirement of filing the certificate of death and the confidential medical report, if any, may be fulfilled by delivering the same immediately upon demand and within the time prescribed by subdivision (b) of this section, to a funeral director or undertaker authorized to take charge of the remains, or to the person in charge of the City mortuary if the remains are to be buried in the City cemetery. Such funeral director, undertaker or person in charge of the City mortuary, or an agent of such funeral director or undertaker registered with the department pursuant to this Article or a designee of the person in charge of the mortuary, shall file the certificate and confidential medical report with the Department within 72 hours following death or the finding of the remains. Funeral directors, undertakers, the person in charge of the City mortuary, and their agents or designees, shall not divulge information contained in the confidential medical report of death except to authorized personnel of the Department.
(d) All hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and hospices that report 10 or more deaths to the Department per year, and the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, shall electronically prepare any death certificates and confidential medical reports, and shall, within 24 hours after the death or finding of the remains, file such documents electronically with the Department by means of computer programs specified and provided or otherwise authorized for use by the Department. In circumstances where a person required to report a death pursuant subdivision (a) of this section files a report thereof electronically with the Department, and an authorized funeral director or undertaker has taken charge of the remains, such funeral director or undertaker shall, within 72 hours after the death or the finding of the remains, file such document with the Department electronically by means of computer programs specified and provided or otherwise authorized for use by the Department. If the remains are to be buried in the City cemetery, the person required to report a death pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section shall complete the process of electronically filing the entire certificate of death and confidential medical report, if any, within 72 hours after the death or finding of the remains. All persons required or authorized to report a death or to file a death certificate with the Department that are not required to report or file electronically pursuant to this subdivision may, at their election and upon approval by the Department, implement an electronic reporting system. Such election will be irrevocable upon commencement of electronic filing by such facilities.
(e) All facilities, organizations or individuals required or electing to report electronically pursuant to subdivision (d) of this section shall apply to the Department prior to implementing any system and, upon approval by the Department, shall make electronic reports only in such manner and on computer programs prescribed and provided or otherwise authorized by the Department. All individuals utilizing the Department's electronic reporting system to prepare, certify, enter information onto or file death certificates or confidential medical reports, pursuant to 24 RCNY Health Code § 205.05, shall be trained or approved by the Department in the proper use of the system and completion of the electronic reporting forms. Written paper reports may be submitted for a limited period of time only in the case of extenuating circumstances, temporary equipment failure, or prolonged inability to access the electronic reporting system, and only with the specific approval of the Department. In addition, the Department may on its own initiative allow written, paper reports to be submitted if electronic reporting is not possible in a particular circumstance. The Department may, in addition, require summary, cumulative or periodic reports on such reporting schedule as it may deem necessary.
(f) The person required to report a death or to file a death certificate shall provide to the Department any information that was required to be reported, but that was not so reported, within five business days of that person receiving the information.
(g) Within five business days of receipt of any autopsy results or other information that would change the information in the cause of death section of the certificate or the confidential medical report, the person required to report the death shall file a supplemental report of the cause of death to amend the certificate or confidential medical report, if any. Said supplemental report shall be certified by a person specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of 24 RCNY Health Code § 205.05.
(h) Upon a request by the Department for additional information that may be necessary to complete, clarify or verify the information required to be reported, the person required to report a death or to file a death certificate shall provide such information to the Department within five business days of the request.
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