Public Health Law § 4141 · Title 4. Registration of Deaths: Burial Permits
Death certificate; form and content
Text — Law content up to date as of October 9, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 4141. Death certificate; form and content. 1. The certificate of death shall contain such information, including but not limited to the decedent's social security number, and shall be in such form as the commissioner may prescribe.
2. The personal particulars called for shall be furnished by a competent person acquainted with the facts.
3. The statement of facts relating to the disposition of the body shall be signed by the funeral director or undertaker in charge of the corpse.
4. (a) The medical certificate shall be made, dated, and signed by the physician or nurse practitioner, if any, last in attendance on the deceased.
(b) Indefinite terms, denoting only symptoms of disease or conditions resulting from disease, shall not be held sufficient.
(c) Any certificate stating the cause of death in terms which the commissioner declares indefinite shall be returned to the physician, nurse practitioner, or person making the medical certificate for correction and more definite statement.
(d) Where a death is caused by an opioid overdose, such information shall be indicated on the certificate, including, if known to the person completing the death certificate, the specific opioid that caused the death of the decedent, along with any other related information as the commissioner may require.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 9, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PBH4141
- Text hash
- sha256 222aca346ce0c9fd4a42c37d66c17c75c2538bbac915d65a1b93172fe4e0fee6
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.