Section 4100. Vital statistics; functions, powers and duties of the department, commissioner and public health council

1.  The  department
  shall, except in the city of New York:
    (a) have charge of the registration of births and deaths;
    (b) procure the faithful registration of births and deaths;
    (c)  provide  the  necessary  instructions and forms for obtaining and
  preserving records of births and deaths; and,
    (d) be charged with  the  uniform  and  thorough  enforcement  of  the
  provisions of this article throughout the state.
    2. The commissioner shall:
    (a) have general supervision of vital statistics;
    (b)  provide  suitably  equipped  offices  for  the permanent and safe
  preservation of all records received or made  under  the  provisions  of
  this article;
    (c)  prepare,  print,  and  supply to all registrars all forms used in
  registering, recording and  preserving  the  returns,  or  in  otherwise
  carrying out the purposes of this article;
    (d)  prepare  and  issue  such detailed instructions, not inconsistent
  with the sanitary code, as  may  be  required  to  procure  the  uniform
  observance  of  the  provisions of this article and the maintenance of a
  good system of registration;
    (e) examine the certificates received monthly  and  if  any  such  are
  incomplete  or unsatisfactory, he shall require such further information
  to be supplied as may be necessary  to  make  the  record  complete  and
  satisfactory;
    (f) arrange, and permanently preserve the certificates in a systematic
  manner;
    (g) prepare and maintain a complete typewritten, printed, photographic
  or  magnetically  stored index of all births and deaths registered; said
  index to be arranged, in the case of deaths, by the names of  decedents,
  and  in  the  case  of  births, by the names of fathers, or the names of
  mothers if the names of the fathers do not appear; and
    (h)  prescribe  and  prepare  the  necessary  methods  and  forms  for
  obtaining  and  preserving records and statistics of autopsies which are
  conducted by a coroner or by a medical examiner, or by his order, within
  the state of New York, and  shall  require  all  those  performing  such
  autopsies,  for  the  purpose  of  determining the cause of death or the
  means or manner of death, to enter upon  such  record  the  pathological
  appearances   and   findings   embodying  such  information  as  may  be
  prescribed, and to append thereto the diagnosis of the  cause  of  death
  and the means or manner of death.
    (i)  upon  notification  by  the division of criminal justice services
  that a person who was born in the state is a  missing  child,  flag  the
  certificate record of that person in such manner that whenever a copy of
  the record is requested, he or she shall be alerted to the fact that the
  record  is  that  of a missing child. The commissioner shall also notify
  the appropriate registrar to likewise  flag  his  or  her  records.  The
  commissioner  or  registrar  shall  immediately  report to the local law
  enforcement authority and the division of criminal justice services  any
  request  concerning  flagged  birth  records  or  knowledge  as  to  the
  whereabouts of any missing child. Upon notification by the  division  of
  criminal justice services that the missing child has been recovered, the
  commissioner  shall remove the flag from the person's certificate record
  and shall notify any other previously notified registrar to  remove  the
  flag  from  his or her record. In the city of New York, the commissioner
  of the department of health for the city of New York shall implement the
  requirements of this paragraph.

    3. The public health council may from  time  to  time  establish  such
  rules  and  regulations  in  the  sanitary  code  supplementary  to  the
  provisions of this article and not inconsistent  therewith,  as  it  may
  deem  necessary,  in  relation to the registration of births, deaths and
  fetal  deaths.  Such  rules  and  regulations  shall  be observed by all
  persons upon whom duties are imposed by this chapter in connection  with
  the registration of births, deaths and fetal deaths.