VI.   Homo Sapien Life

The diagnostic death of a man or woman as an organism is when the circulatory system, respiratory system and neural system have all ceased to function without critical life support and at least three complete attempts at resuscitation have been attempted over a period of thirty minutes or more.

The official death of a man or woman as defined by law is upon the recording of a valid proof of death.

Proof of death of a person under seventy five (75) years of age is established by either a valid certificate of death or by declaratory judgment of death by a court of law in accordance with these Canons.

A certificate of death is an official document issued by an authorized and competent person stating the person in question has been officially pronounced diagnostically dead. There are three permitted types of certificates of death (“death certificates”)-

(i) supervised death certificates; and

(ii) conclusive death certificates; and

(iii) inconclusive death certificates.

A supervised certificate of death may only be issued when a person under seventy five (75) years of age has died under authorized medical supervision and the complete facts of the death are generally known, including:

(i) The proper name of the deceased; and

(ii) The precise date and time of death; and

(iii) Medication and other drugs supplied; and

(iv) The location of death; and

(v) The most likely cause of death; and

(vi) The people in attendance at the time of death

A conclusive certificate of death may only be issued when a person under seventy five (75) years of age has died and the complete facts of the death are generally known, including:

(i) The proper name of the deceased; and

(ii) The general date and time of death; and

(iii) Medication and other drugs supplied; and

(iv) The location of death; and

(v) The cause of death; and

(vi) The people in attendance at the time of death.

An inconclusive certificate of death may only be issued when a person has died and the complete facts of the death are not generally known, including:

(i) The proper name of the deceased may or may not be known; and

(ii) The general date and time of death may or may not be known; and

(iii) The location of death may or may not be known; and

(iv) The cause of death may or may not be known; and

(v) The people in attendance at the time of death may or may not be known.

Only the Coroner shall be permitted to issue all certificates of death subject to the conditions of coronial inquiry and investigation.

Excluding deaths in supervised and competent medical care, all other deaths and all unclaimed/unchecked remains shall be subject to official autopsy to establish either a conclusive certificate of death or an inconclusive certificate of death.

Where the coroner is only able to establish an inconclusive certificate of death, an official Coronial inquiry shall be called to assist in the obtaining of further facts to attempt to re-issue a conclusive certificate of death.

Where a person under seventy five (75) years of age dies under competent authorized medical supervision of natural causes and the Coroner is likely to issue a supervised certificate of death, and where the parents/guardians have not issued a formal objection for the organs to be donated for transplant, the Coroner shall release the body to authorized medical staff for tissue harvesting prior to the issue of a supervised certificate of death.

A declaratory judgment of death may be pronounced on the application of any interested person, including the Public Trustee, four (4) years after a person’s disappearance.

A declaratory judgment of death states the name and sex of the person presumed dead and, if known, the place and date of his or her birth and, if applicable, the names of his or her father and mother as well as his or her last domicile, and the date, time and place of death.

The date fixed as the date of death is either the date occurring on the expiry of four (4) years from disappearance or an earlier date if the presumptions drawn from the circumstances allow the death of a person to be held to be certain at that date.

In the absence of other proof, the place fixed as the place of death is that where the person was last seen.

A declaratory judgment of death produces the same effects as death.