New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 7 - HEALTH › Chapter 3 - STATE MEDICAL INVESTIGATOR'S OFFICE › Part 2 - POLICIES OF THE OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL INVESTIGATOR › Section 7.3.2.17 - REMAINS

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. Citations and
				Regulations:
(1)
										24-11-6
				NMSA 1978 A: Upon receipt of a report from a deputy medical investigator under
				this subsection, the state or district medical investigator may execute a death
				certificate and a certificate authorizing release of the body for
				burial.
(2)
										24-11-7
				NMSA 1978: If the deceased is unidentified, the state, district or deputy
				medical investigator may order the body fingerprinted and
				photographed.
(3)
										24-12-1
				NMSA 1978:
(a) State, county or municipal
				officials having charge or control of bodies to be buried at public expense
				shall use due diligence to notify the relatives of the deceased.
(b) If no claimant is found who will assume
				the cost of burial, the official having charge or control of the body shall
				notify the medical investigator stating, when possible, the name, age, sex and
				cause of death of any person required to be buried at public expense.
(c) The body shall be embalmed according to
				regulations of the state agency having jurisdiction. After the exercise of due
				diligence required in Subsection A [now Subparagraph (a) of Paragraph (3) of
				Subsection A of 7.3.2.17 NMAC] of this section, and the report to the medical
				investigator required in Subsection B [now Subparagraph (b) of Paragraph (3) of
				Subsection A of 7.3.2.17 NMAC] of this section, the medical investigator shall
				be furnished detailed data demonstrating such due diligence and the fact that
				no claimant has been found. When the medical investigator has determined that
				due diligence has been exercised and that reasonable opportunity has been
				afforded relatives to claim the body and that the body has not been claimed, he
				shall issue his certificate determining that the remains are unclaimed. In no
				case shall an unclaimed body be disposed of in less than two weeks from the
				date of the discovery of the body.
(4)
										24-12-2
				NMSA 1978:
(a) Upon the issuance of his
				certificate that the remains are unclaimed, the medical investigator shall
				retain the body for use only for medical education or shall certify that the
				body is unnecessary or unsuited for medical education and release it to the
				state, county or municipal officials having charge or control of the body for
				burial.
(b) If the body is retained
				for use in medical education, the facility or person receiving the body for
				such use shall pay the costs of preservation and transportation of the body and
				shall keep a permanent record of bodies received.
(c) If a deceased person was an inmate of a
				public institution, the institution shall transmit, upon request of the medical
				investigator, a brief medical history of the unclaimed dead person for purposes
				of identification and permanent record. The records shall be open to inspection
				by any state or county official or district attorney.
(5)
										24-12-3 NMSA
				1978:
(a) Any person who conducts a
				postmortem examination on an unclaimed body without express permission of the
				medical investigator is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by
				imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year or by the imposition
				of a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both such
				imprisonment and fine.
(b) Any
				person who unlawfully disposes of, uses or sells an unclaimed body is guilty of
				a fourth degree felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state
				penitentiary for a term of not less than one year nor more than five years or
				by the imposition of a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or
				both such imprisonment and fine.
(6)
										24-13-1
				NMSA 1978: It shall be the duty of the board of county commissioners of each
				county in this state to cause to be decently interred, the body of any dead
				person having no visible estate out of which to defray the cost of his burial,
				and when no relative or friend of such decedent will undertake to bury
				him.
(7)
										24-13-2
				NMSA 1978: No deceased person shall be considered to be an indigent if there
				are any sums, no matter how small, with which to defray the cost of such
				burial.
(8)
										24-13-3
				NMSA 1978: The expenses for the burial or cremation of an indigent person shall
				be paid by the county out of the general fund in the amount of one hundred
				dollars ($100) for the burial of any adult or minor over the age of six years
				and seventy-five dollars ($75) for the burial of any minor up to the age of six
				years.
(9)
										24-13-4
				NMSA 1978: The board of county commissioners, after proper investigation, shall
				cause any deceased indigent to be decently interred or cremated. The cost of
				opening and closing a grave shall not exceed thirty-five dollars ($35), which
				sum shall be in addition to the sums enumerated in Section
				24-13-3
				NMSA 1978.
(10)
										24-14-22
				NMSA 1978:
(a) Each spontaneous fetal death,
				where the fetus has a weight of five hundred grams or more, which occurs in
				this state shall be reported to the state registrar.
(b) When a dead fetus is delivered in an
				institution, the person in charge of the institution or his designated
				representative shall prepare and file the report.
(c) When the spontaneous fetal death occurs
				on a moving conveyance and the fetus is first removed from the conveyance in
				this state, or when a dead fetus is found in this state and the place of fetal
				death is unknown, the fetal death shall be reported in this state. The place
				where the fetus was first removed from the conveyance or the dead fetus was
				found shall be considered the place of fetal death.
(d) When a spontaneous fetal death required
				to be reported by this section occurs without medical attendance at or
				immediately after the delivery or when inquiry is required by law, the state
				medical investigator shall investigate the cause of fetal death and shall
				prepare and file the report.
(e)
				The names of the parents shall be entered on the spontaneous fetal death report
				in accordance with the provisions of Section
				24-14-13 NMSA
				1978.
(f) Except as otherwise
				provided in this section, all spontaneous fetal death reports shall be
				completed and filed with the state registrar within ten days following the
				spontaneous fetal death.
(11)
										24-14-23
				NMSA 1978:
(a) For deaths or spontaneous
				fetal deaths which have occurred in this state, no burial-transit permit shall
				be required for final disposition of the remains if such disposition occurs in
				this state and is performed by a funeral service practitioner or if disposition
				takes place in an institution with authorization from the next of
				kin.
(b) A burial-transit permit
				shall be issued by the state registrar or a local registrar for those bodies
				which are to be transported out of the state for final disposition or when
				final disposition is being made by a person other than a funeral service
				practitioner.
(c) A burial-transit
				permit issued under the law of another state or foreign country which
				accompanies a dead body or fetus brought into this state shall be authority for
				final disposition of the body or fetus in this state.
(d) A permit for disinterment or reinterment
				shall be required prior to disinterment of a dead body or fetus except as
				authorized by regulation or otherwise provided by law. The permit shall be
				issued by the state registrar or state medical investigator to a licensed
				funeral service practitioner.
(e) A
				permit for cremation of a dead body shall be required prior to the cremation.
				The permit shall be issued by the state medical investigator to a licensed
				funeral service practitioner.
(12)
										24-14-24 NMSA
				1978:
(a) The department may, by regulation
				and upon conditions as it may prescribe to assure compliance with the purposes
				of the Vital Statistics Act [24-14-1 to 2414-17,
				24-14-20 to
				24-14-31
				NMSA 1978], provide for the extension of the periods prescribed in Sections
				24-1420,
				24-14-22
				and
				24-14-23
				NMSA 1978 for the filing of death certificates, spontaneous fetal death
				reports, medical certification of cause of death and for the obtaining of
				burial-transit permits in cases where compliance with the applicable prescribed
				period would result in undue hardship.
(b) Regulations of the department may provide
				for the issuance of a burial-transit permit prior to the filing of a
				certificate upon conditions designed to assure compliance with the purposes of
				the Vital Statistics Act in cases where compliance with the requirement that
				the certificate be filed prior to the issuance of the permit would result in
				undue hardship.
(13)
				Regulation - state board of thanatopractice of the state of New Mexico
				regulations, adopted 2/2/79 and revised 1984, No. 22.
(a) Subject to the provisions of Subsection G
				of Section 61-29A-23, NMSA 1978, all human and fetal remains shall be embalmed
				in accordance with the Thanatopractice License Law, where;
(i) required by an applicable regulation of
				the office of the medical investigator or of the secretary of the health and
				environment department or by an order of the state or a district medical
				investigator;
(ii) the remains are
				not stored under refrigeration at a temperature not exceeding 5 degrees C (40
				degrees F) when Subsection A of Section 61-29A-21, NMSA 1978, is applicable;
				or
(iii) Subsection F of Section
				61-29A-23, NMSA 1978, is applicable.
(b) When embalming is not required under the
				preceeding paragraph A [now Subparagraph (a) of Paragraph (13) of Subsection A
				of 7.3.2.17 NMAC], then no human or fetal remains shall be embalmed without the
				oral or written authorization by the:
(i)
				surviving spouse or next of kin; or
(ii) legal agent or personal representative;
				or
(iii) person assuming
				responsibility for final disposition.
(c) Where embalming is not required under
				paragraph A [now Subparagraph (a) of Paragraph (13) of Subsection A of 7.3.2.17
				NMAC] and prior to obtaining authorization under paragraph B [now Subparagraph
				(b) of Paragraph (13) of Subsection A of 7.3.2.17 NMAC], remains may be washed
				and other health procedures, such as closing the orifices, preparatory to
				actual embalming, may be performed.