The director of the department of health shall cause the returns received by the office of state medical examiners and reports made by that office on causes of death for each year, in accordance with this chapter, to be bound together with an index to the volume. The director of health in his or her capacity as ex officio state registrar shall prepare or cause to be prepared from the returns tabular results that will render them of practical utility, and shall annually report thereof in connection with the report of births, marriages, and deaths required by chapter 3 of this title.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-4-14