216 R.I. Code R. 216-RICR-10-10-1.3

Current through December 26, 2024

Section 216-RICR-10-10-1.3 - Definitions

A. Wherever used in these Regulations, the terms listed below shall be construed in the following manner; and, furthermore, every word importing the masculine gender only, may be construed to extend to and to include females as well as males.

1. "Act" refers to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-3, entitled "Vital Records."

2. "Adoptee" refers to a person who was born in Rhode Island and whose original birth certificate was sealed and a new birth record created due to an adoption.

3. "Adoptee vital records file" means a file operated by the Office of Vital Records that maintains pre-adoption birth certificates, and includes contact preference form(s). The Office of Vital Records will provide qualified adult adoptees with non-certified copies of their birth certificates from this file.

4. "Adult adoptee" refers to an adoptee, born in Rhode Island, as defined by R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-3-1.

5. "Amendment" means any change, correction or addition made to a vital record after filing of same; except that any minor correction or addition made to a birth record less than one (1) year after the date of the birth shall not be considered an amendment.

6. "Birth parent" refers to the person, father or mother of genetic origin of the child, who is legally presumed under the laws of Rhode Island or has been adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be the father or mother of genetic origin of the child.

7. "Certifying physician" refers to a physician who has attended a person during his last illness prior to death; or the physician declaring a person dead; or, if death occurred in a hospital, a registered hospital medical officer duly appointed by the hospital director or administrator.

8. "Community of resident" means the city or town within the State of Rhode Island of a person's home address at the time of his/her marriage or death or of his/her mother's home address at the time of his/her birth.

9. "Contact preference form" means a form prepared and maintained by the Office of Vital Records that birth parent(s) of adoptees may file to express his or her preference regarding contact with the adoptee. The birth parent(s) shall be given the contact options found in R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-3-15(g)(2). The contact preference form shall also include language informing the birth parent(s) of their ability to provide genetic, social, and health history to the Passive Voluntary Adoption Mutual Consent Registry as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws § 15-7.2-1.

10. "Dead body" means a lifeless human body or parts of such body or bones thereof from the state of which it reasonably may be concluded that death occurred.

11. "Director" means the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health.

12. "Fetal death" means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy; the death is indicated by the fact that after such expulsion or extraction the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of the voluntary muscles.

13. "Filing" means the presentation of a certificate, report, or other record provided for in law and in these Regulations, for registration by the local registrar and/or the State Registrar, as specified in these Regulations. (See "Registration").

14. "Final disposition" means the burial, interment, cremation, or other disposition of a dead body or fetus.

15. "Foundling" refers to an infant of unknown parentage.

16. "Funeral director" means a person licensed to practice pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 5-33.2.

17. "Institution" means any establishment, public or private, which provides in-patient medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment; or nursing, custodial, or domiciliary care to two (2) or more unrelated individuals; or to which persons are committed by law.

18. "Issue" refers to lineal descendants of the person on the birth certificate and/or record (children, grandchildren and their children to the remotest degree).

19. "Live birth" means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such expulsion or extraction, breathes or shows any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of the voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut, or the placenta is attached.

20. "Local registrar" means a city or town clerk in Rhode Island or any other person designated for that purpose by the governing body of a city or town in Rhode Island pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-3-6.

21. "Office" means the Office of Vital Records of the Rhode Island Department of Health.

22. "Physician" refers to a person authorized or licensed to practice medicine pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 5-37, and, as used in these Rules and Regulations Governing Vital Records only, a person licensed as a certified nurse practitioner pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 5-34 or licensed as a physician's assistant pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 5-54.

23. "Registrant(s)" means the subject(s) of the vital record.

24. "Registration" means the acceptance by the local registrar and/or the State Registrar and the incorporation in their official records of certificates, reports, or other records provided for in law, or in these Regulations.

25. "Delayed registration" means the registration of any vital record one (1) year or more after the date of occurrence of the vital event.

26. "Late registration" means the registration of any vital record twenty (20) or more days after the last day of the month of occurrence, but less than one (1) year following the vital event.

27. "Signing" or "Signature" means the application of either a hand signature to a paper record or an electronic process approved by the State Registrar of Vital Records.

28. "R.I. Gen. Laws" means the General Laws of Rhode Island, as amended.

29. "State registrar" means the State Registrar of Vital Records, who is also the Chief of the Office of Vital Records, appointed by the Director pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-3-4.

30. "System of vital records" means the registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital records, and activities related thereto, including the tabulation, analysis, and publication of statistical data derived from such records.

31. "These regulations" mean all parts of Rhode Island Rules and Regulations Governing Vital Records.

32. "Vital records" means a birth, death, fetal death, or marriage, or divorce and the legal registration and data collection of the demographic and medical data related to those events.

216 R.I. Code R. 216-RICR-10-10-1.3

Amended effective 3/31/2021