No kidding. If they asked for dead child’s bc, I think I would be of the mind to drag them to the morgue and see that, in fact, the child was dead, therefore presenting proof that the child was indeed, at some point, born.
The reason they cross-reference death certificates with birth certificates is to prevent identity fraud. See the HHS inspector general’s report at http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-07-99-00570.pdf
IIRC that report also says that when a person dies, the birth record is supposed to be located and is supposed to have DECEASED marked on it, to prevent identity theft.
With electronic records now, the matching can be done by the computer system so there’s no need to have a place to write a BC# on a death certificate.
Hawaii law required the HDOH to include on their certificates all the required information from the CDC’s recommended certificates. I don’t know what changes were made to the recommended death certificates between 1955 and 1961, or whether the HDOH kept up with the changes as required.