Title 34 — PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY

All records and certificates required by this chapter shall be completed electronically, typewritten, or written legibly in permanent black ink. In case any certificate is not complete or not legible, the department may not file the same, but shall require the person responsible …

The local registrar shall sign, date, and number consecutively the permits for disposition filed at the county office. Source: SDC 1939, §§ 27.0206, 27.0217; SL 1941, ch 124 , § 6; SL 1945, ch 103 , § 2; SL 1945, ch 105 ; SL 1963, ch 149 , § 1; SDCL, §§ 34-25-17 , 34-25-46 ; SL 1…

A vital record may be amended in accordance with rules promulgated by the department pursuant to chapter 1-26 . Each request for amending a birth, death, or marriage certificate, after one year from the event, shall be accompanied by an eight dollar fee to the department for amen…

The department or authorized local registrars shall, upon receipt of an application, issue a certified copy of a vital record to the registrant or the registrant's spouse, children, parents, guardian, next of kin, or authorized representative. The department may authorize others …

Federal, state, local, and other public or private agencies may, upon request, be furnished copies or data upon such terms or conditions as may be prescribed by the secretary of health. Source: SL 1972, ch 194 , § 41.

In addition to the fee charged an applicant by the Department of Health for supplying a certified copy of the record of any birth, there shall be levied an additional charge of two dollars for the first copy requested and two dollars for each additional copy requested. The money …

Notwithstanding § 34-25-52 , the department shall provide at no cost a certified copy of any child's birth certificate, limited to one, upon presentation of a copy of a valid head start enrollment form for that child. Source: SL 1992, ch 247 .

All forms and procedures used in the issuance of certified and informational copies of vital records shall be uniform and shall be provided or approved by the state registrar. The department shall promulgate rules pursuant to chapter 1-26 to determine application requirements for…

Nothing in this chapter may be construed to permit disclosure of information contained in the "Information for Medical and Health Use Only" section of the birth certificate or the "Information for Statistical Purposes Only" section of the certificate of marriage or certificate of…

To protect the integrity of vital records, ensure their proper use, and to ensure the efficient and proper administration of the vital records system, no employee of the state vital records office, local registrar, or deputy registrar may permit inspection of any vital record or …

Notwithstanding § 34-25-52 , the department must provide, at no cost, a certified copy of an individual's South Dakota birth certificate, limited to one, upon application and proof of that person's homelessness. The individual or the individual's spouse, child, parent, guardian, …

34-25-54 Certified copies supplied free for military or veterans' claims--Minors participating in sports programs. 34-25-55 34-25-55 , 34-25-56. Repealed by SL 1972, ch 194 , § 45. 34-25-57 Violation of requirements as misdemeanor. 34-25-57.1

No charge may be made for certified copies of birth, death, marriage, adoption, divorce, or guardianship or conservatorship papers, to a serviceman in or a veteran of any war or conflict in which the United States has been or hereafter will be engaged, or veteran as defined by § …

No person, officer, agent, or employee of any other person or of any corporation or partnership may: (1) Inter, cremate, or otherwise finally dispose of a dead body of a human being or permit the same to be done or remove the body from the state without authority of a burial or r…

34-25-57.2 Unintentional issuance of certified copy of vital record fraudulently obtained--Personal liability. 34-25-58 Enforcement and supervisory powers of department--Investigations by secretary. 34-25-59 34-25-59 , 34-25-60. Repealed by SL 1972, ch 194 , § 45. 34-25-61 Severa…

No employee of the state vital records office, local registrar, or deputy registrar may be held personally liable for any unintentional issuance of any certified copy of any vital record fraudulently obtained. Source: SL 2005, ch 190 , § 8.

The provisions of this chapter shall be performed and enforced in every part of this state by the State Department of Health which shall have supervisory power over local registrars and deputy local registrars, to the end that all requirements of this chapter shall be uniformly c…

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this chapter is for any reason held or declared to be unconstitutional, inoperative, or void, such holding or invalidity shall not affect the remaining portions of this chapter; and it shall be construed to have been the …

Any electronic list of persons married in South Dakota may be released by the Department of Health or the local register of deeds. Source: SL 2007, ch 196 , § 1.

The birth of every child born in this state shall be registered as provided in this chapter. Within seven days after the date of each live birth, there shall be filed with the department by electronic means if a facility has such capabilities, or otherwise if electronic means are…

If a birth occurs in a moving conveyance, a birth certificate shall designate the county in which the child was first removed from the conveyance. Source: SL 1972, ch 194 , § 6; SL 1995, ch 196 , § 2. 34-25-8.2. Repealed by SL 1989, ch 297 , § 2.

34-25-9 Birth in institution--Attending physician or physician's designee to prepare certificate--Filing certificate. 34-25-9.1 Birth outside institution--Persons responsible for certificate--Evidence required--Violation as misdemeanor. 34-25-9.2 Birth certificate signed by paren…

If a birth occurs in an institution, the physician in attendance at the birth or the physician's designee shall, within five days after the birth, obtain the personal data and the medical information required by the certificate and provide it to the person designated by the insti…

Either of the parents of the child shall sign a document attesting to the accuracy of the personal data entered on it. If the parents are unable to sign, the document shall be signed by the informant. Source: SL 1972, ch 194 , § 10; SL 1995, ch 196 , § 4. 34-25-10 to 34-25-13. Re…

Source: SL 1951, ch 188 , § 2; SDC Supp 1960, § 34.1016; SL 1961, ch 184 , § 2; SL 1981, ch 263 ; SL 1985, ch 191 , § 5; SL 2009, ch 123 , § 2.

Source: SL 2023, ch 129 , § 20.

Every person has the right to direct the manner in which his body or any part thereof shall be disposed of after his death, and to direct the manner in which any part of his body which becomes separated therefrom during his lifetime shall be disposed of. The provisions of §§ 34-2…

All bodies delivered pursuant to § 34-26-8 shall be properly embalmed, and shall be preserved for a period of not less than sixty days, during which time any personal friend or relative of the decedent, making request for such body for private interment, shall be given possession…

Bodies delivered pursuant to § 34-26-8 unclaimed after the expiration of sixty days may be used for the promotion of medical and surgical science, and the instruction and study of physicians and students of anatomy and embalming in this state. After having served such purpose, th…

Nothing contained in §§ 34-26-8 to 34-26-11 , inclusive, shall preclude the officers of the state hospitals for the mentally ill from using the unclaimed remains of patients dying in such hospitals to make autopsies for pathological study. Source: SL 1909, ch 278 , § 4; RC 1919, …

Every person who makes or procures to be made any dissection of the body of a human being, except by authority of law or in pursuance of a permission given by the decedent, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Source: PenC 1877, § 352; CL 1887, § 6553; RPenC 1903, § 357; RC 1919, …

The person charged by law with the duty of burying the body of a deceased person is entitled to the custody of such body for the purpose of burying it. However, in the cases in which an investigation or inquest is required by law to be held upon a dead body, by a coroner, such co…

Except in the cases in which the right to dissect a dead body is expressly conferred by law, every dead body of a human being lying within this state must be decently buried within a reasonable time after the death. Nothing herein shall affect the right to remove from or carry th…

Source: PenC 1877, § 355; CL 1887, § 6556; RPenC 1903, § 360; RC 1919, § 3874; SDC 1939, § 27.1303; SL 1963, ch 153 ; SL 2022, ch 113 , § 12.

In case the person upon whom the right and duty of burial is first cast by the provisions of § 34-26-75 does not make the burial within a reasonable time, the duty devolves upon the person next specified; and if all omit to act it devolves upon the county of the legal residence o…

All provisions of this code requiring burial of a dead body, or punishing interference with, or injuries to a dead body, apply equally to any part of a dead body separated therefrom during lifetime, or by dissection after death, as soon as the lawful purposes of such dissection h…

An autopsy may be performed upon the body of a deceased person by a physician or surgeon whenever so authorized in writing, or by electronically recorded telephone communication: (1) By the decedent during the decedent's lifetime; or (2) By the decedent's surviving spouse; or (3)…

The Department of Public Safety shall provide each individual renewing or applying for a driver license or nondriver identification card an opportunity to review information about organ donation and the national marrow donor program. The department shall distribute this informati…

The right to dissect the dead body of a human being exists whenever a person lawfully gives permission for such disposal of his body or any part thereof after death. Source: SDC 1939, § 27.1304 (5); SL 1963, ch 152 .

The right to dissect the dead body of a human being exists whenever any spouse or next of kin of a deceased person, or any other person, being charged by law with the duty of burial authorizes such dissection of the dead body or any part thereof for the purpose of ascertaining th…

A hospital shall establish written protocols for the identification of potential human organ, eye, and tissue donors that: (1) Assure that families of potential donors are made aware of the option of organ, eye, and tissue donation and their option to decline; (2) Encourage discr…

No person may discriminate against an individual at any point in the organ transplant process, solely on the basis of an individual’s mental or physical disability, unless the disability has been determined to be medically significant to the provision of an anatomical gift. A vio…

Sections 34-26-48 to 34-26-72 , inclusive, may be cited as the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. Source: SL 2007, ch 197 , § 1.

In §§ 34-26-48 to 34-26-72 , inclusive: (1) "Adult" means an individual who is at least eighteen years of age. (2) "Agent" means an individual: (A) Authorized to make health care decisions on the principal's behalf by a power of attorney for health care; or (B) Expressly authoriz…

The right to dissect the dead body of a human being exists if the death occurs under circumstances in which a coroner is authorized by law to hold an inquest upon the body or under the provisions of § 23-14-9.1 , and a coroner, sheriff, or the state's attorney designated by law t…

Sections 34-26-48 to 34-26-72 , inclusive, apply to an anatomical gift or amendment to, revocation of, or refusal to make an anatomical gift, whenever made. Source: SL 2007, ch 197 , § 3.

Subject to § 34-26-55 , an anatomical gift of a donor's body or part may be made during the life of the donor for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education in the manner provided in § 34-26-52 by: (1) The donor, if the donor is an adult or if the donor is a …

(a) A donor may make an anatomical gift: (1) By checking a box on the driver license or identification card application authorizing a statement or symbol indicating that the donor has made an anatomical gift to be imprinted on the donor's driver license or identification card. Th…

The department shall maintain a computer record of donors and shall place the designation on each driver license or identification card subsequently issued to the donor. The department is not required to maintain the physical record of the donor card or application after issuing …

(a) Subject to § 34-26-55 , a donor or other person authorized to make an anatomical gift under § 34-26-51 may amend or revoke an anatomical gift by: (1) A record signed by: (A) The donor; (B) The other person; or (C) Subject to subsection (b), another individual acting at the di…