69.18 Death records.

(1) Registration of deaths.

(a) Any one of the following may move a corpse for the purpose of final disposition:

1. A funeral director licensed under ch. 445 acting in person or through the agency of another funeral director licensed under ch. 445.

2. A member of the decedent's immediate family who personally prepares for and conducts the final disposition of the decedent.

3. A person acting under s. 157.02 or 445.16.

(b) Any person who moves a corpse under par. (a) shall file a death record for the corpse under this subsection in the manner prescribed by the state registrar under any one of the following circumstances:

1. The death occurred in this state.

2. The corpse was found in this state.

3. The corpse was removed in this state from a conveyance which was moving at the time of death.

4. The corpse was found in interstate waters and removed in this state.

(bm) A person required to file a death record under par. (b) shall obtain the information required for the death record from the next of kin or the best qualified person or source available. The person filing the death record shall enter his or her signature on the record and include his or her address and the date of signing and shall present or mail the record, within 24 hours after being notified of the death, to the physician, coroner or medical examiner responsible for completing and signing the medical certification. Within 2 days after receipt of the medical certification, the person filing the death record shall mail or present the death record in:

1. The registration district of the place of death if the death occurred in this state.

2. The registration district where the corpse was found or removed if the place of death is not in this state or is unknown, is removed in this state from a conveyance which was moving at the time of death or is found in interstate waters and removed in this state.

(c) A hospital, a nursing home, as defined in s. 50.01 (3), or a hospice that is the place of death of a person may prepare a death record for the person and give the record to the person who moves the corpse under par. (a).

(cm)

1. For purposes of preparation of the death record and in accordance with accepted medical standards, a hospice nurse in a hospice that is directly involved with the care of a hospice patient who dies may pronounce the date, time, and place of the patient's death if all of the following apply:

a. The patient was generally under the care of a physician at the time of death.

b. The death was anticipated.

2. Subd. 1. may not be construed to authorize a hospice nurse to certify under sub. (2) (b) the cause of the patient's death.

(d) A hospital, nursing home, or hospice may not release a corpse to any person under par. (a) unless the person presents a notice of removal in the manner prescribed by the state registrar, in duplicate, to the administrator of the hospital, nursing home, or hospice. The administrator shall retain one copy and forward the other copy to the local registrar of the registration district in which the hospital, nursing home, or hospice is located.

(e)

1. If a death is a miscarriage and 20 weeks or more have elapsed between the mother's last normal menstrual period and delivery or the stillbirth weighs 350 grams or more, one of the following shall submit, within 5 days after delivery, a fetal death report to the state registrar:

a. If the miscarriage occurs at or on route to a hospital, the individual who manages the hospital or the hospital's medical records.

b. If the miscarriage does not occur at or on route to a hospital, the funeral director or other person authorized by at least one parent of the stillbirth.

2. Except as provided under subd. 1., no fetal death report is required.

(1m) Format. Beginning on September 1, 2013, a record of death shall consist of the following parts:

(a) Fact-of-death information, which shall include all of the following:

1. The name and other identifiers of the decedent, including the decedent's social security number, if any.

2. The date, time, and place that the decedent was pronounced dead.

4. The identity of the person certifying the death.

5. The dates of certification and filing of the death record.

(b) Extended fact-of-death information, which includes all of the following:

1. All information under par. (a).

2. Information on final disposition, manner, and cause of death.

3. Injury-related data.

(c) Statistical-use-only information, which includes all of the following:

1. All information other than that under par. (b) that is collected on the standard death record form recommended by the federal agency responsible for national vital statistics.

2. Other data, as directed by the state registrar, including race, educational background, and health risk behavior.

(2) Medical certification.

(a) For a death record, in the manner prescribed by the state registrar under sub. (1) (b), the state registrar shall provide for a medical certification to be completed under this subsection.

(b) If a person under the care of a physician dies from the illness or condition for which the care is given and a coroner or medical examiner does not certify the cause of death under par. (d) 1., the physician shall complete and sign a medical certification for the death under par. (f) and mail the medical certification within 5 days after the pronouncement of death or present the medical certification to the person responsible for filing the death record under sub. (1) within 6 days after the pronouncement of death.

(c) If the physician under par. (b) is absent or gives his or her written approval, the medical certification under par. (b) may be completed and signed by any one of the following who has access to the medical history of the decedent:

1. If any other physician assisted in attending the decedent, the other physician.

2. The chief medical officer of the hospital or nursing home in which the death occurred.

3. The physician who performed an autopsy on the decedent.

(d)

1. Except as provided under par. (e), if a death is the subject of a coroner's or medical examiner's determination under s. 979.01 or 979.03, the coroner or medical examiner or a physician supervised by a coroner or medical examiner in the county where the event which caused the death occurred shall complete and sign the medical certification for the death and mail the death record within 5 days after the pronouncement of death or present the record to the person responsible for filing the death record under sub. (1) within 6 days after the pronouncement of death.

2. Except as provided under par. (e), if the decedent was not under the care of a physician for the illness or condition from which the person died, the coroner or medical examiner, or a physician supervised by a coroner or medical examiner, in the county of the place of death shall complete and sign the medical certification for the death and mail the death record within 5 days after the pronouncement of death or present the record to the person responsible for filing the death record under sub. (1) within 6 days after the pronouncement of death.

3. For a medical certification under this paragraph, except a medical certification of the cause of death of an indigent, a coroner or medical examiner may charge a fee established by the county board, not to exceed an amount reasonably related to the actual and necessary cost of providing the medical certification. The coroner or medical examiner, or the physician employed by the coroner or medical examiner, shall mail or present a medical certification as required under subd. 1., whether or not the fee has been paid.

(e) Unless the person is a physician supervised by a coroner or medical examiner, no person may act under par. (d) if the subject of the death record was his or her patient or a patient in a hospital, or nursing home, as defined in s. 50.01 (3), in which he or she has direct care of any patient.

(f)

1. A person signing a medical certification under par. (b), (c) or (d) shall describe, in detail, in the manner prescribed by the state registrar, the cause of death, show the duration of each cause, the sequence of each cause if the cause of death was multiple and, if the cause was disease, the evolution of the disease. The person shall describe a disease in medical terms and may not limit the description to symptoms or conditions resulting from disease. If the cause of a death is medically certified under par. (d), the coroner or medical examiner shall describe any violence related to the cause of death, its effect on the decedent and whether it was accidental, suicidal, homicidal or undetermined.

2. If a person signing a medical certification under par. (b), (c) or (d) fails to satisfy the requirements of subd. 1., the medical certification shall be deemed incomplete and unsigned and may be returned to the person for completion.

3. A person signing a medical certification under par. (b), (c) or (d) shall note on the record if the cause of death of the subject of the record is unknown, undetermined or if the determination of the cause of death is pending and shall submit to the state registrar within 30 days after the pronouncement of death an amendment to the medical certification which satisfies the requirements of subd. 1., except that such amendment may exclude information which is unavailable pending the determination of an inquest under s. 979.04.

(3) Requirements for disposition of a corpse or stillbirth.

(a) Except as provided under par. (c) or (e), the person who has moved a corpse under sub. (1) (a) shall complete a report for final disposition in the manner prescribed by the state registrar and, within 24 hours after being notified of the death, mail or present a copy of the report to the coroner or medical examiner in the county of the place of death and mail or present a copy to the local registrar in the registration district of the place of death. If the cause of death is subject to an investigation under s. 979.01 or 979.03, the report for final disposition shall be submitted to the coroner or medical examiner in the county in which the event which caused the death occurred.

(b) If a medical certification for a corpse is required under sub. (2) (d), no person may embalm the corpse or effect its final disposition without satisfying the requirements for a report under par. (a) and without obtaining the written permission of the person required to complete the medical certification under sub. (2) (d).

(c) No person may effect a final disposition of a corpse brought into this state unless the corpse is accompanied by written authorization for final disposition under the law of another state.

(d) No person may remove a corpse from this state if the place of death was in this state unless the corpse is accompanied by a copy of the report for final disposition. If a medical certification is required for the corpse under sub. (2) (d), the corpse must be accompanied by the report and the written permission of the coroner or medical examiner to embalm and effect final disposition. No person may remove a stillbirth from this state if the delivery of the stillbirth was in this state unless the stillbirth is accompanied by a report for final disposition.

(e) Except as provided under par. (d), no report under par. (a) is required to effect final disposition of a stillbirth. No person may effect final disposition of a stillbirth without the written authorization of any of the following persons, in order of priority stated, when persons in prior classes are not available at the time of authorization, and in the absence of actual notice of opposition by a member of the same or a prior class:

1. A parent of the stillbirth.

2. An adult brother or sister of the stillbirth.

3. A grandparent of the stillbirth.

4. Any other person authorized or under obligation to dispose of the stillbirth.

(f) Every person in charge of a place in which interment or other disposition of corpses occurs shall maintain a written record of every corpse interred there. The record shall include the name of the decedent, the place of death, the date of burial and the name and address of the funeral director or other person in charge of the funeral.

(g) If a deceased person had a disease which the department determines is communicable and dangerous to the public health, the corpse of the person may not be moved nor final disposition effected except under conditions prescribed by the department.

(4) Authorization for disinterment and reinterment.

(a) Subject to s. 157.111, the coroner or medical examiner of the county in which a decedent's corpse is interred shall issue an authorization for disinterment and reinterment upon receipt of an order of a court of competent jurisdiction or upon receipt of a written application for disinterment and reinterment signed by the person in charge of the disinterment and by any of the following persons, in order of priority stated, when persons in prior classes are not available at the time of application, and in the absence of actual notice of contrary indications by the decedent or actual notice of opposition by a member of the same or a prior class:

1g. An individual specified under s. 154.30 (2) (b).

1m. The decedent's spouse.

2. An adult son or daughter of the decedent.

3. Either parent of the decedent.

4. An adult brother or sister of the decedent.

5. A guardian of the person of the decedent at the time of the decedent's death.

6. Any other person authorized or under obligation to dispose of the decedent's corpse.

(bm) A cemetery authority may disinter and reinter buried human remains as provided under s. 157.112 without first obtaining an authorization under par. (a).

History: 1985 a. 315; 1985 a. 332 s. 253; 1989 a. 307; 1993 a. 386; 1995 a. 357; 1997 a. 114; 2001 a. 16; 2003 a. 273; 2005 a. 266; 2007 a. 58; 2013 a. 168; 2017 a. 334; s. 35.17 correction in (3) (a).

Sub. (2) (f) does not require a death certificate to state the basis of a patient's treatment or the type of treatment. Neuman v. Circuit Court for Marathon County, 231 Wis. 2d 440, 605 N.W.2d 280 (Ct. App. 1999), 99-0714.