69.01 Definitions. In this subchapter:

(1r) “Certificate of termination of domestic partnership" means a certificate issued by a county clerk under s. 770.12 (3).

(2) “Certifier of the cause of death" means a physician, coroner or medical examiner acting under s. 69.18 (2).

(3) “City registrar" means the local health officer of a local health department with jurisdiction for a city that is a registration district.

(5) “Court report" means an abstract of a court action involving a vital record completed and certified by the clerk of court on a form supplied by the state registrar.

(6g) “Date of death" means the date that a person is pronounced dead by a physician, coroner, deputy coroner, medical examiner, deputy medical examiner, or hospice nurse.

(6r) “Declaration of domestic partnership" means a declaration issued by a county clerk under s. 770.07 (2).

(7) “Department" means the department of health services.

(8) “Direction of the state registrar" means the determination in individual cases that statutes are being observed, the issuance of administrative rules, the imposition of statutory penalties and the maintenance of communications within the system of vital records.

(10) “File" means the acceptance by the local registrar and the initial incorporation of vital records provided under this subchapter into the system of vital records.

(11) “Filing party" means any person who submits a vital record to a local registrar for filing in the system of vital records.

(12) “Final disposition" means the disposition of a corpse or stillbirth by burial, interment, entombment, cremation, delivery to a university or school under s. 157.02 (3) or delivery to a medical or dental school anatomy department under s. 157.06. “Final disposition" does not include disposition of the ashes produced by cremation of a corpse or stillbirth.

(12g) “Hospice" has the meaning given in s. 50.90 (1).

(12m) “Hospice nurse" means a registered nurse, as defined in s. 146.40 (1) (f), who is employed by or under contract to a hospice.

(13) “Hospital" has the meaning given under s. 50.33 (2).

(13m) “Induced abortion" means the termination of a uterine pregnancy by a physician of a woman known by the physician to be pregnant, for a purpose other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus.

(14) “Local health department" has the meaning given in s. 250.01 (4).

(15) “Local registrar" means:

(a) The register of deeds responsible for filing vital records in the county except as provided under par. (b).

(b) The city registrar responsible for filing death records in his or her city.

(15r) “Marriage certificate" has the meaning given in s. 765.002 (3).

(16) “Marriage document" has the meaning given under s. 765.002 (4).

(16m) “Medical certification" means those portions of a death record that provide the cause of death, the manner of death, injury-related data, and any other medically-related data that is collected as prescribed by the state registrar under s. 69.18 (1m) (c) 2.

(17) “Person with a direct and tangible interest" means a person who satisfies the requirements under s. 69.20 (1).

(18) “Place of death" means the place where a pronouncement of a human death occurs or, if a death occurs in a conveyance or a corpse is found in interstate waters and removed in this state, the place where the corpse is removed.

(19) “Registrant" means the subject of a record or declaration which a local registrar has accepted for filing in the system of vital records.

(20) “Registration" means final processing of vital records after filing and review for completeness and correctness by the local and state registrar.

(21) “Registration district" means a county, except that a city approved under s. 69.04 is a registration district for filing death records occurring in the city.

(22) “Research" means a systematic study through scientific inquiry for the purpose of expanding a field of knowledge, including environmental or epidemiological research or special studies, that is conducted by persons who meet criteria for access that are specified in rules promulgated under s. 69.20 (4).

(24) “State registrar" means the state registrar of vital records appointed by the department under s. 69.02 (1) (b).

(25) “System of vital records" means:

(a) The filing, registration, collection, preservation, amendment and certification of vital records under this subchapter.

(b) The collection of records, other than vital records, required under this subchapter.

(c) Activities related to the activities under pars. (a) and (b), including the tabulation, analysis and publication of vital statistics.

(26) “Vital records" means any of the following:

(a) Records of birth, death, divorce or annulment, termination of domestic partnership, marriage, and declarations of domestic partnership.

(b) Worksheets that use forms that are approved by the state registrar and are related to documents under par. (a).

(c) Data related to records under par. (a) or worksheets under par. (b).

(27) “Vital statistics" means the data derived from records of birth, death, divorce or annulment, termination of domestic partnership, marriage documents, declarations of domestic partnership, fetal death reports, or related reports.

History: 1985 a. 315; 1985 a. 332 s. 253; 1991 a. 39; 1993 a. 27; 1995 a. 27 s. 9126 (19); 2001 a. 16; 2003 a. 273; 2005 a. 69; 2007 a. 20 s. 9121 (6) (a); 2009 a. 28, 276; 2017 a. 334.