Fetal Death Certificate

Definition of "Fetal death" means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception of at least twenty weeks of gestation, which after such expulsion or extraction 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 voluntary muscles.

Ohio Revised Code: § 3705.20. Fetal death certificate

A fetal death shall be registered on a fetal death certificate. A fetal death which occurs in Ohio shall not be interred, deposited in a vault or tomb, cremated, or otherwise disposed of by a funeral director or other person until a fetal death certificate or provisional death certificate has been filed with and a burial permit is issued by the local registrar of vital statistics of the registration district in which the fetal death occurs, or the body is found. The department of health and the local registrar shall keep a separate record and index record of fetal death certificates.

The personal or statistical information on the fetal death certificate shall be obtained by the funeral director or other person in charge of interment or cremation from the best qualified persons or sources available.

Last Updated: 9/16/05