REPORTING OF 1909 VITAL RECORDS BY DOCTORS IN SYRACUSE, NY
Transcribed by Ruth Ann Messick Aug 2001
Notes and Webpage by Cliff Lamere 25 Aug 2001
Below are two 1909 Syracuse Herald (Onondaga Co., NY) newspaper articles.
The first explains why you may not be able to find birth records for some of your NY ancestors.
The second deals with making doctors responsible for filing death records.
The articles were found and transcribed by Ruth Ann
Messick, a genealogical researcher from Saratoga Co.
I knew someone who was born in 1911. He and two of nine siblings never had birth information submitted to the state.
1911 was 30 years after a law went into effect in 1881 requiring birth and marriage
data be collected by local governments (county, town(ship), city or village) and then forwarded to the
state (the law affected the reporting of deaths one year earlier). Obviously, it was an imperfect system for a long time.
Some doctors didn't report births as they were required to do. Also, in
1900 about 50% of the births in the U.S. happened in the presences of a midwife.
Some of those
deliveries were never recorded by the family or the person assisting in the
delivery. By 1935, midwives attended only about 12% of the births, and
that was reduced to 1% by 1972.
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The Syracuse Herald, Wednesday Evening, June 2 1909
STORK PAID 201 LOCAL VISITS DURING THE MONTH OF MAY
The birth rate in Syracuse for May is a decided improvement over that for April.
During the thirty-one days that elapsed between the beginning and the end of the month the stork paid no less than 201
visits to Syracuse families. In several cases, however, the visits were made in quick succession, the long legged bird simply
depositing one precious burden and flying off to bring a little twin brother or sister for the new baby.
Registrar John Metz of the Bureau of Vital Statistics is of the opinion that many more babies are born in Syracuse than
those whose births are recorded and he bases his belief upon the fact that there are MANY physicians in the city who
RARELY if ever file a birth certificate - among them some of the doctors who make a specialty of acting as aids to Herr Stork.
"We have written them letter after letter and have used every means that we know of to get the births reported" said the
Registrar, "and still we are thoroughly convinced that we don't get anywhere nearly as full returns as we ought.
There are three
or four doctors in town who, between them, could easily swell the birth list by SEVERAL HUNDREDS a year from whom we
hear almost nothing. And there are midwives practicing who do not file their birth certificates, they are not many, because the
midwives realize for most part that there are few easier ways of earning a quarter than by filling out a blank and reporting a
birth to this office."
"I can't see any possible reason why either physicians or parents should object to the filing of birth records, and, as a matter of
fact, the failure to send them in is caused merely by carelessness. In some families the doctor gives their children what they
receive from death and birth certificates, and in that case there is no danger that we won't get the names of all the new babies.
The youngsters watch for them like hawks, and 'papa' has no peace of mind until he gets his certificate ready.
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The Syracuse Herald, Friday Evening, June 4, 1909
UP TO THE PHYSICIANS
Amendment to Law Makes Them Responsible for Certificate.
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Instead of Undertakers
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Heretofore the Doctors have collected the fee and Undertakers have been obliged to get papers filled out and filed - New law
about filing of Births
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Physicians will have more work under an amendment to the public health law which the State Department of Health is
preparing to enforce. When a doctor's patient dies he must within twenty-four hours deliver to the local registrar a certificate of
the death and the probable cause. The amendment transfers the responsibility from the undertaker to the physician, relieving the
undertaker of the necessity of calling upon the physician for the necessary data.
Under the new law, in case an inquest is required by law, the Coroner or the Coroner's physician must fill out the certificate,
and if no inquest is required and no physician has been in attendance, the certificate shall be filled out by some reputable person
known to the official issuing the burial permit, and the person thus acting must make an affidavit to the facts set forth in the
death certificate. The old law required the undertaker to file the physician's certificate before securing a burial permit.
The
amendment enables the Health Department to deal directly with the physicians.
Another amendment requires that the registration of a birth must be made within thirty-six hours to the local health
authorities, the object of this provision being to enable the Health Department to prepare the vital statistics of the State, another
amendment requires that statistics must be forwarded from all localities on or before the fifth of the month.
The State Health Department is preparing circulars, which will be sent to local health officers for distribution among
physicians.
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Registrar Favors Law
"The amendment can scarcely fail to be of benefit," said Registrar of Vital Statistics John Metz this morning. "The physicians
have always received the fee for the filing of death certificates and the undertakers have shouldered the responsibility of the
filing. Therefore, of course, the undertakers have been more or less dissatisfied.
They have frequently been obliged to call at
the house of the doctor more than once in order to get a death certificate signed, and often there has been delay in the issuing
of the burial permit."
"Another good result of the new law will be the holding up of cases which ought to belong to the Coroner and giving him an
opportunity to act upon them before the hour of the funeral. If a death certificate is filed within twenty-four hours after the
death occurs, it will make it possible to get all the necessary information in case there is any reason for inquiry."
"The filing of birth certificates within thirty-six hours is another excellent point and one which I trust will be possible to
enforce. At present, we have pretty hard work to get the birth certificates filed at all, and if we can get full returns and get them
quickly, it will certainly be a very good thing."
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