DEATH CERTIFICATES – TRAINING & PROCESS 

Notice to all Nurse Practitioners Effective March 12, 2021: 

● Due to increased needs during the COVID-19 Pandemic, your assistance with death certificates is requested, where appropriate, to aid families making funeral arrangements, and county officials handling unfortunate increases in death rates. 

● Death Certificate Training is no longer a requirement to be able to complete death certifications. ● For more information,about the D.A.V.E. system and how to complete the death certificate, or to access the optional training, please visit the D.A.V.E. System-Medical Certifier on the Department of Health Services website at 

https://www.azdhs.gov/liecnesing/vitalrecords/index.php#dave-medical. 

● If you know the cause of death or can, with a reasonable degree of confidence, determine the most probable cause of death*, please complete the death certificates as quickly as possible, and within the 72 hours required by law. A.R.S. § 36-325, see below. 

● If you do not know the cause of death: please timely refer to the appropriate medical examiner or alternate. 

*Arizona Revised Statute 32-325 N. states that “A healthcare provider who completes and signs a medical certification of death in good faith pursuant to this section is not subject to civil liability or professional disciplinary action.” 

APPLICABLE LAWS: 

The following are some of the applicable death certificate laws, and clarifications: 

● A.R.S. § 36-325(G) states: 

o If a person under the current care* of a health care provider for an acute or chronic medical condition dies of that condition or complications associated with that condition, the health care provider or a health care provider designated by that provider shall complete and sign the medical certification of death on a death certificate within seventy-two hours. If current care has not been provided, the medical examiner or alternate medical examiner shall complete and sign the medical certification of death on a death certificate within seventy-two hours after the examination, excluding weekends and holidays. 

(Asterisk added, see below for definition of “current care”.) 

o Nothing in this statute requires a provider to complete a death certificate when the provider is uncertain of the cause of death. 

● *“Current care” is defined in A.R.S. § 36-301(8), which states: "Current care" means that a health care provider has examined, treated, or provided care for a person for a chronic or acute condition within eighteen months preceding that person's death. Current care does not include services provided in connection with a single event of an emergency or urgent care. For the purposes of this paragraph, "treated" includes prescribing medication. 

o This definition of “current care” provides flexibility to the provider to extend to 18 months of last examination/treatment/provision of care; but does not require the provider to complete a death certificate when the cause of death is uncertain.