UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

Federal Trade Commission 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20580 

 Craig Tregillus 

Division of Marketing Practices
 

Phone: (202) 326-2970

 Email: ctregillus@ftc.gov 

August 5, 2016 

Mr. Thurman Higginbotham, President 

Independent Funeral Directors Association of DC 

3145 Lady Banks Lane 

Waldorf, MD 20603 

Dear Mr. Higginbotham: 

Your request for a staff opinion states that funeral providers serving the District of Columbia 

have encountered a problem when a natural death occurs in a family home. Because they may not 

lawfully transport the body to the funeral home until death is pronounced,1

 and because the D.C. 

Medical Examiner’s Office does not pronounce most deaths from natural causes,2 it may be 

necessary for funeral providers to locate and pay a licensed physician to perform that service. You 

ask whether, and if so how, a charge for that service should be disclosed by a provider on the 

General Price List (“GPL”), and entered on the Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected 

(“SFGSS”), in order to comply with the Funeral Rule.3 

The Rule specifies that a funeral provider may charge only one non-declinable fee, the basic 

services fee, unless another fee is necessitated by any legal, cemetery or crematory requirement that 

is disclosed in writing on the SFGSS.4 Accordingly, the Rule expressly prohibits funeral providers 

from charging: 

1

 A notice dated February 4, 2016, from the D.C. Board of Funeral Directors, states that a funeral 

provider “should not transport a body to a funeral services establishment for funeral services prior to 

an official pronouncement of death.” It cites a directive of the D.C. Department of Health dated 

December 23, 2015, which emphasizes that a death may be pronounced “only” by “a hospital 

emergency room physician or an authorized official from the District’s Office of the Chief Medical 

Examiner, unless otherwise permitted by law.” 

2

 D.C. statutes state that the District’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner must pronounce and 

investigate possible unnatural deaths in enumerated circumstances, DC Code § 5-1405, and that a 

body may be removed from the place of death “only” with “the consent of the medical examiner or 

the treating physician who certifies the cause of death,” DC Code § 7-214(c)(1), or when an 

expected death occurs at home, after a registered nurse assisting a treating physician signs the 

pronouncement of death section of the death certificate. DC Code §§ 7-211(j); 7-214(c)(2). Thus, if 

the treating physician or her assistant registered nurse is unavailable when an anticipated death 

occurs, or there is no treating physician when an unanticipated death from natural causes occurs, a 

funeral provider may find it necessary to locate and pay a physician to pronounce the death. 

3

 16 C.F.R. § 453. 

4 16 C.F.R. §§ 453.2(b)(4)(iv), 453.3(d)(2). 
 

 

Mr. Thurman Higginbotham 

Page 2 of 2 

any fee as a condition of furnishing any funeral goods or funeral 

services to a person arranging a funeral, other than the fees for: 

(1) Services of funeral director and staff, permitted by 

§ 453.2(b)(4)(iii)(C) [basic services fee]; (2) other funeral services and 

funeral goods selected by the purchaser; and (3) other funeral goods or 

services required to be purchased [i.e., by legal, cemetery or crematory 

mandates], as explained on the itemized statement [SFGSS] in 

accordance with § 453.3(d)(2).5 

While the Rule does not permit a second non-declinable fee, it does permit fees for funeral 

goods and services voluntarily “selected by the purchaser.” It is therefore staff’s opinion that funeral 

providers may offer to locate and pay a physician to pronounce an in-home death from natural 

causes for a fee that is optional. No Rule violation occurs if purchasers voluntarily choose such a 

service and are free to avoid the cost by, for example, declining it and making arrangements for the 

death pronouncement themselves.6 

To allow purchasers to make a voluntary choice about finding and paying a physician to 

pronounce an in-home death from natural causes, the funeral provider must disclose the optional 

fee on the provider’s GPL. The provider must notify the purchaser about the optional fee orally and 

by providing a copy of the GPL when removal arrangements are discussed, or promptly upon 

arriving for the removal of the body.7 The disclosure should state whether the provider’s fee 

includes or is in addition to the physician’s fee. The provider should also list the fee on the SFGSS, 

and the physician’s fee, if not included, should be listed as a cash advance item.8 

Please be advised that the views expressed in this letter are those of the FTC staff. They 

have not been reviewed, approved, or adopted by the Commission, and they are not binding upon the 

Commission. However, they do reflect the opinions of those staff members charged with 

enforcement of the Funeral Rule. Staff Funeral Rule opinions are now routinely posted on the 

FTC website currently located at: https://www.ftc.gov/policy/advisoryopinions?title=&term_node_tid_depth=3507&date_filter[min][date]=&date_filter[max][date]. 

 Respectfully yours, 

 Craig Tregillus 

 Funeral Rule Coordinator 

5 16 C.F.R. § 453.4(b)(1)(ii). 

6 Staff Opinion 13-2 (Jan. 3, 2013) at 2, available at https://www.ftc.gov/policy/advisoryopinions/opinion-13-2. 

7

 Such a fee can be listed on the GPL, for example, as “Optional service fee for arranging a 

physician to pronounce a death from natural causes at a D.C. residence if no treating physician exists 

or if neither the treating physician nor her assistant registered nurse is available. This fee is in 

addition to the physician’s fee.” 

8

 Such a fee can be listed on the SFGSS, for example, as a “Service fee for arranging a physician to 

pronounce death at a D.C. residence. This fee is in addition to the physician’s fee.”