(a) Each case of fetal death shall be registered and a fetal death certificate shall be filed with the registrar of vital statistics in the manner required by sections 7-48, 7-51 and 7-52 with respect to the filing, content and issuance of birth certificates. A fetus born after a period of gestation of not less than twenty weeks in which there is no attempt at respiration, no action of heart and no movement of voluntary muscle, shall be recorded as a fetal death. A fetal death certificate shall be signed by a physician or, when no physician was in attendance, by the nurse-midwife in attendance at the birth, the Chief Medical Examiner, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, an associate medical examiner or an authorized assistant medical examiner.

(b) Such certificate shall include, on a confidential portion of the certificate, any additional information required by the department, provided the information obtained under this section shall be used only for medical and health purposes.