Code of Maine Rules › 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › 146 - OFFICE OF DATA, RESEARCH AND VITAL STATISTICS › Chapter 1 - TRANSPORTATION, STORAGE AND FINAL DISPOSITION OF DEAD BODIES › Section 146-1-1 - Definitions

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A. 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, §
				2846.
B. 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, § 2843.
C. 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.
D. Department. "Department" means the State
				of Maine Department of Human Services.
E. Disinterment. "Disinterment" means the
				exhumation and/or removal of a dead body from or within a cemetery.
F. Entombment. "Entombment" means placement
				of a dead body in a receiving vault or other structure constructed for this
				purpose, prior to final disposition.
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. 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, § 2703, or where an establishment of the funeral
				director having custody of the dead body is located.
L. 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, § 1405.
M. Report of Death. "Report of death" means a
				statement from a funeral director, as specified by M.R.S.A., Title 22, §
				2843, Sub-§
									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.
N. Official
				of a Municipality. "Official of a municipality" means the municipal clerk or,
				in the case of a municipality without a full-time clerk, another elected or
				appointed municipal official designated in writing by the clerk to endorse the
				burial-transit permit pertaining to each burial, cremation or disinterment
				which takes place in the municipality. A person who has been appointed by the
				municipal clerk as asubregistrar may not be designated as an official of the
				municipality for the purposes of M.R.S.A., Title 22, § 2843.
O. 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.
P. Subregistrar. "Subregistrar" means a
				person appointed by the municipal 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, § 2703, or where an establishment of the funeral
				director having custody of the dead body is located.
Q. Suitable Container. "Suitable container"
				means a sound receptacle made of material such as wood, fiber board, or other
				rigid material, or canvas to contain a dead body.