(c) A licensed physician who has been in charge of a patient's care for the illness or condition that resulted in the death of the patient shall complete, sign, and return to the funeral director the medical certification on the death certificate within three (3) business days after receipt of the death certificate, except when an inquiry is required by law pursuant to Arkansas Code § 12-12-315 as set forth herein:

1. (1) The county coroner, prosecuting attorney, and either the county sheriff or the chief of police of the municipality in which the death of a human being occurs shall be promptly notified by any physician, law enforcement officer, undertaker or embalmer, jailer, coroner, or by any other person present with knowledge of the death if:

   1. (A) The death appears to be caused by violence or appears to be the result of a homicide or a suicide or to be accidental;
   2. (B) The death appears to be the result of the presence of drugs or poisons in the body;
   3. (C) The death appears to be the result of a motor vehicle accident or the body was found in or near a roadway or railroad;
   4. (D) The death appears to be the result of a motor vehicle accident and there is no obvious trauma to the body;
   5. (E) The death occurs while the person is in a state mental institution or hospital and there is no previous medical history to explain the death, or while the person is in police custody or jail other than a jail operated by the Department of Corrections;
   6. (F) The death appears to be the result of a fire or an explosion;
   7. (G) The death of a minor child appears to indicate child abuse prior to death;
   8. (H) Human skeletal remains are recovered or an unidentified deceased person is discovered;
   9. (I) Postmortem decomposition exists to the extent that an external examination of the corpse cannot rule out injury, or in which the circumstances of death cannot rule out the commission of a crime;
   10. (J) The death appears to be the result of drowning;
   11. (K) The death is of an infant or a minor child under eighteen (18) years of age;
   12. (L) The manner of death appears to be other than natural;
   13. (M) The death is sudden and unexplained;
   14. (N) The death occurs at a work site;
   15. (O) The death is due to a criminal abortion;
   16. (P) The death is of a person where a physician was not in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding death or, in prediagnosed terminal or bedfast cases, within thirty (30) days;
   17. (Q) A person is admitted to a hospital emergency room unconscious and is unresponsive with cardiopulmonary resuscitative measures being performed and dies within twenty-four (24) hours of admission without regaining consciousness or responsiveness, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding presentation to the hospital or, in cases in which the decedent had a prediagnosed terminal or bedfast condition, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty (30) days preceding presentation to the hospital;
   18. (R) The death occurs in the home; or
   19. (S)

(i) The death poses a potential threat to public health or safety.

1. (ii) Upon receiving notice of a death that poses a potential threat to public health or safety, the county coroner shall immediately notify the Department of Health; and

2. (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require an investigation, autopsy, or inquest in any case in which death occurred without medical attendance solely because the deceased was under treatment by prayer or spiritual means in accordance with the tenets and practices of a well-recognized church or religious denomination.

   1. (d) With regard to any death in a correctional facility, the county coroner and the State Medical Examiner shall be notified, and when previous medical history does not exist to explain the death, the Division of Arkansas State Police shall be notified.

(f)

1. (1) In the absence of the physician or with his or her approval, the certificate may be completed and signed by his or her associate physician, by the chief medical officer of the institution in which death occurred, by the pathologist who performed an autopsy upon the decedent, or by a registered nurse as provided in this section if the individual has access to the medical history of the case and has reviewed the coroner's report if required and if the death is due to natural causes.
2. (2) The individual completing the cause-of-death section of the certificate shall attest to its accuracy either by a signature or by approved electronic process.

(g)

1. (1) If a physician refuses or otherwise fails to complete, sign, and return the medical certification to the funeral director within three (3) business days as required by subsection (c) of this section, the funeral director may notify the board of the failure to complete, sign, or return the medical certification within three (3) business days as required by subsection (c) of this section.
2. (2) The board shall assess against a physician described in this subsection a fine not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars ($250) unless the physician shows good cause for the refusal or failure.

(h) Except as provided herein below, a medical certification shall be completed using the electronic process or system designated by the division except:

1. (1) Upon request, the board may grant a waiver from the requirement of Arkansas Code § 20-18-601(c)(1)(A)(ii) that a medical certification be completed using an electronic process or system if a person requesting the waiver:

   1. (A) Regularly signs fewer than ten (10) medical certifications per year; or
   2. (B) Shows other good cause for a waiver as determined by the board in its discretion; and

2. (2) A physician who is granted a waiver under this subsection:

   1. (A) Shall not be fined under subdivision (g)(2) of this section for failure to submit medical certification using an electronic process or system; and
   2. (B) Is liable for failure to submit a medical certification in a timely manner under subsection (g) of this section.