Code of Maine Rules › 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › 146 - OFFICE OF DATA, RESEARCH AND VITAL STATISTICS › Chapter 5 - MEDICAL CERTIFICATION OF CAUSE OF DEATH › Section 146-5-1 - Definitions

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A. Attending Physician. "Attending physician"
				means the physician in charge of the decedent's care during the period
				preceding his or her death.
B.
				Authorized Person. "Authorized person" means a person other than a funeral
				director who demonstrates authorization for final disposition of a dead body as
				required by M.R.S.A., Title 22, Sec. 2846.
C. Burial-Transit Permit. "Burial-transit
				permit" means a permit for transportation, temporary storage, disinterment, or
				final disposition of a dead body by burial, cremation, burial at sea, use by
				medical science, or removal from the State, as specified by M.R.S.A., Title 22,
				Sec. 2843.
D. Dead body. "Dead
				body" means a human body or parts of a human body, other than a fetus, from the
				condition of which it reasonably can be concluded that death
				occurred.
E. Death Certificate.
				"Death certificate" means certificate of death as furnished by the state
				registrar for the purpose of registering deaths which occur in Maine, including
				the medical certification of the cause of death and personal data pertaining to
				the decedent.
F. Department.
				"Department" means the State of Maine Department of Human Services.
G. Fetus. "Fetus" means a product of
				conception dead prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother;
				the fetus shows no signs of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the
				umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles.
H. Funeral Director. "Funeral director" means
				a person licensed for the practice of funeral service in Maine, or his
				agent.
I. Final Disposition. "Final
				disposition" means the burial, cremation, burial at sea, use by medical
				science, removal from the state, or other authorized disposition of a dead body
				or fetus.
J. Institution.
				"Institution" means any establishment, public or private, which provides
				in-patient medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment, custodial or
				domiciliary care, or to which persons are committed by law.
K. Life-Sustaining Procedure.
				"Life-sustaining procedure" means, as specified in M.R.S.A. Title 22, Sec.
				2842, any medical procedure or intervention that, when administered to a
				qualified patient, will serve only to prolong the dying process and shall not
				include nutrition and hydration.
L.
				Medical Certification. "Medical certification" means the information on the
				cause(s) of death and the time, date, manner and circumstances of
				death.
M. Municipal Clerk.
				"Municipal clerk" means the duly elected or appointed clerk of the city, town,
				or plantation where death occurred, where the death certificate is required to
				be filed by M.R.S.A., Title 22, Sec. 2703, or where an establishment of the
				funeral director having custody of the dead body is located.
N. Medical Examiner's Release. "Medical
				examiner's release" means a certificate from a duly appointed medical examiner
				that he has made personal inquiry into the cause and manner of death and is
				satisfied that no further examination or judicial inquiry is necessary, as
				specified by M.R.S.A. Title 32, Sec. 1405.
O. Report of Death. "Report of death" means a
				statement from a funeral director, as specified by M.R.S.A. Title 22, Sec.
				2843, 2, that he has been unable to obtain a medical certification of the cause
				of death. The report of death must name the attending physician and include
				assurances that the physician has been contacted and will certify the death as
				due to natural causes. When a medical examiner is required to determine the
				cause of death, the report of death must name the medical examiner and include
				assurances that the medical examiner has been contacted and has indicated that
				the body can be released for embalming and final disposition.
P. Registration. "Registration" means filing
				of a certificate with the municipal clerk as required by law. Registration is
				complete when the municipal clerk enters the date of filing, signs the
				certificate, and forwards a copy to the State Registrar.
Q. Terminally Ill Patient. "Terminally ill
				patient" means a patient who has been diagnosed as having an incurable or
				irreversible condition that, without the administration of life-sustaining
				procedures, will, in the opinion of the attending physician, result in death
				within a short time, as specified by M.R.S.A., Title 22, Sec.
				2848.