Section 135.04. Removal from a hospital or nursing home.

 

(1)   Holding, pending decision of relative, friend or public authorities. Hospital or nursing home authorities shall make provision for holding a human corpse until a relative, friend or the public authorities determine what disposition shall be made of the remains. The hospital or nursing home may cause a body to be removed that is unclaimed after 12 hours from the time of death and following due notice to the local health officer, unless a longer period of time is required to complete an autopsy.

(2)   Delay for autopsy. Except for cases which involve a coroner or medical examiner because a death has occurred under circumstances specified in s. 979.01 , Stats., whenever the immediate family has requested or approved an autopsy, the funeral director or member of the immediate family or other person authorized to remove the body from the hospital shall delay making the removal for up to 10 hours after death, or for a longer period of time if the pathologist and funeral director mutually agree on a longer period of time, to permit completion of the autopsy.

(3)   Presentation of removal notice. The hospital or nursing home may not release a corpse to a funeral director, member of the immediate family or other person authorized to remove the body until the funeral director or other person making the removal presents a notice of removal, in duplicate, to the administrator of the hospital or nursing home or to his or her representative. The hospital or nursing home administrator or that person's representative shall complete, to the best of his or her knowledge, the portion of the notice which specifies if isolation techniques should be used in the embalming process and shall indicate whether the death is reportable to the coroner or medical examiner under s. 979.01 , Stats. One copy of the removal notice shall be retained on file by the hospital or nursing home for a minimum of 30 days and the other shall be forwarded immediately by the hospital or nursing home to the local registrar in the registration district where death was pronounced. No presentation of a notice of removal is necessary for removal of a stillbirth unless a hospital requires that notice for internal recordkeeping purposes, in which case no copy of the notice is forwarded to the local registrar.

History: Cr. Register, January, 1993, No. 445 , eff. 2-1-93.

Note

See s. 157.02 , Stats., for disposition of the corpses of persons who have died at state, county or municipal institutions. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1