410 ILCS 535/18

(410 ILCS 535/18) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 73-18)

Sec. 18. (1) Each death which occurs in this State shall be registered by filing a death certificate with the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred or the body was found, within 7 days after such death (within 5 days if the death occurs prior to January 1, 1989) and prior to cremation or removal of the body from the State, except when death is subject to investigation by the coroner or medical examiner. If a death occurs in this State in a county outside the deceased's county of residence, the local registrar of the district in which the death certificate was filed shall, within 7 days of its filing, send a copy of the death certificate to the local registrar in the district where the deceased's county of residence is located.

(a) For the purposes of this Section, if the place of death is unknown, a death certificate shall be filed in the registration district in which a dead body is found, which shall be considered the place of death.

(b) When a death occurs on a moving conveyance, the place where the body is first removed from the conveyance shall be considered the place of death and a death certificate shall be filed in the registration district in which such place is located.

(c) The funeral director who first assumes custody of a dead body shall be responsible for filing a completed death certificate. He or she shall obtain the personal data from the next of kin or the best qualified person or source available; he or she shall enter on the certificate the name, relationship, and address of the informant; he or she shall enter the date, place, and method of final disposition; he or she shall affix his or her own signature and enter his or her address; and shall present the certificate to the person responsible for completing the medical certification of cause of death. The person responsible for completing the medical certification of cause of death must note the presence of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, clostridium difficile, or vancomycin-resistant enterococci if it is a contributing factor to or the cause of death. Additional multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) may be added to this list by the Department by rule.

(2) The medical certification shall be completed and signed within 48 hours after death by the certifying health care professional who, within 12 months prior to the date of the patient's death, was treating or managing treatment of the patient's illness or condition which resulted in death, except when death is subject to the coroner's or medical examiner's investigation. In the absence of the certifying health care professional or with his or her approval, the medical certificate may be completed and signed by his or her associate physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant, the chief medical officer of the institution in which death occurred, or the physician who performed an autopsy upon the decedent.

(3) When a death occurs without medical attendance, or when it is otherwise subject to the coroner's or medical examiner's investigation, the coroner or medical examiner shall be responsible for the completion of a coroner's or medical examiner's certificate of death and shall sign the medical certification within 48 hours after death, except as provided by regulation in special problem cases. If the decedent was under the age of 18 years at the time of his or her death, and the death was due to injuries suffered as a result of a motor vehicle backing over a child, or if the death occurred due to the power window of a motor vehicle, the coroner or medical examiner must send a copy of the medical certification, with information documenting that the death was due to a vehicle backing over the child or that the death was caused by a power window of a vehicle, to the Department of Children and Family Services. The Department of Children and Family Services shall (i) collect this information for use by Child Death Review Teams and (ii) compile and maintain this information as part of its Annual Child Death Review Team Report to the General Assembly.

(3.5) The medical certification of cause of death shall expressly provide an opportunity for the person completing the certification to indicate that the death was caused in whole or in part by a dementia-related disease, Parkinson's Disease, or Parkinson-Dementia Complex.

(4) When the deceased was a veteran of any war of the United States, the funeral director shall prepare a "Certificate of Burial of U. S. War Veteran", as prescribed and furnished by the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, and submit such certificate to the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs monthly.

(5) When a death is presumed to have occurred in this State but the body cannot be located, a death certificate may be prepared by the State Registrar upon receipt of an order of a court of competent jurisdiction which includes the finding of facts required to complete the death certificate. Such death certificate shall be marked "Presumptive" and shall show on its face the date of the registration and shall identify the court and the date of the judgment.

(Source: P.A. 102-257, eff. 1-1-22; 102-844, eff. 1-1-23; 103-154, eff. 6-30-23; 103-741, eff. 8-2-24.)