P.R. Laws tit. 24, § 1106
In case it is impossible to obtain a physician to authorize the medical certificate, the same may be substituted by the examination of the corpse made by the keeper of the register in the presence of the person presenting the death certificate, and said officer shall set forth in a special blank to be prepared for the purpose, the reasons for the registration of the death without the medical certificate, and he shall, moreover, fill out a questionnaire on a form to be furnished by the Secretary of Health; Provided, That if the physician called upon to issue the certificate or the keeper of the register shall have reason to suspect that the death may have been due to a criminal act or to negligence, he shall report the case to the proper prosecuting attorney for proper investigation and certification. The certificates issued by physicians by virtue of the provisions of subsections (2) and (3) of § 1105 of this title, and, in general, all such certificates as are issued by physicians without their having attended the deceased, shall set forth said fact, and the cause of death shall be established by a retrospective diagnosis based on the information received.
History —Apr. 22, 1931, No. 24, p. 228, § 12, eff. 90 days after Apr. 22, 1931.