Death Certificates, Permits, and Vital Records Reporting
Registration timeline
Oregon requires a death certificate to be filed with the local registrar within five calendar days after death, unless the medical examiner or state registrar extends the time. The funeral director or person in charge of disposition completes the personal and disposition information; the attending physician, medical examiner, or other authorized certifier completes the medical certification. Oregon uses its electronic vital records system for most filings.
Medical certification and ME cases
A physician may certify natural deaths. If the death is unattended, violent, suspicious, or otherwise reportable, the medical examiner has jurisdiction and must certify. The FSP may not state a cause of death.
Permits
No burial, cremation, or other disposition may occur without a disposition permit. A burial-transit permit is required to move remains out of the registration district or state. The permit must accompany the remains and be retained by the receiving funeral home or cemetery.
Worked example
A person dies at home on Monday with no physician in attendance. The FSP should not file a routine certificate signed by a physician who never saw the decedent. The death must be reported to the medical examiner, who investigates and certifies. Filing a certificate without ME clearance is a violation and can delay the permit.
Traps
Do not count “five business days”-Oregon’s rule is calendar days. Do not let a family member sign as certifier. Do not bury before the permit issues. Do not confuse the disposition permit with the death certificate; they are separate documents.