Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Health Services › DHS 110-199 - Health › Chapter DHS 135 - Human corpses and stillbirths › Section DHS 135.02 - Definitions

Current through June 24, 2024
In this chapter:
(1)
				"Common carrier" has the meaning prescribed for "common motor carrier" in s.
				194.01(1),
				Stats., and in addition includes a vehicle using rails, air or water to
				transport persons or property.
(2)
				"Cremation permit" has the meaning prescribed for a release to cremate in sub.
				(18).
(3) "Death certificate" means
				the form prescribed and supplied by the department which contains such items of
				information as the department judges necessary to identify the decedent and to
				certify the cause or causes of death.
(4) "Department" means the Wisconsin
				department of health services.
(5)
				"Disinterment permit" means the form prescribed by the coroner or medical
				examiner to authorize removal of a human corpse from a grave or tomb and which
				contains items of information that are necessary to identify the deceased, the
				date and place of death, the current place of interment, the intended place of
				interment, the name of the person requesting the disinterment and the name of
				the person in charge of the disinterment.
(6) "Disposition" means, in reference to a
				human corpse or stillbirth, burial, entombment in a mausoleum or separate
				vault, temporary storage, cremation or donation for scientific research or
				teaching use.
(7) "Embalming" has
				the meaning designated in s.
				DHS
				136.02(1).
(8) "Fetal death report" means the form
				prescribed and supplied by the department for reporting a stillbirth resulting
				from miscarriage, of gestational age 20 weeks or more or having a birthweight
				of 350 grams or more.
(9) "Final
				disposition" means, in reference to a human corpse or stillbirth, burial,
				entombment in a mausoleum or separate vault, cremation, delivery to a
				university or school under s.
				157.02(3),
				Stats., or delivery to a medical or dental school anatomy department under s.
				157.06, Stats.
Note: For cremation after burial, entombment or donation, a
				  cremation permit must be obtained under s.
				  DHS
				  135.06(3) (a).
(10) "Funeral director" means a person who is
				licensed under s.
				445.04,
				Stats., to prepare human corpses for burial or other disposition, or to direct
				and supervise the burial or other disposition of human corpses.
(11) "Gestational age" means, in reference to
				stillbirths, the age of a fetus expressed in weeks, dating from the first day
				of the mother's last normal menses to the date of delivery.
(12) "Immediate family" means, in order of
				decisionmaking priority, spouse, adult children, parents, adult brothers and
				sisters, grandparents, and adult grandchildren of the decedent.
(13) "Interment" means, in reference to a
				human corpse, burial or entombment in a mausoleum or separate vault.
(14) "Local health officer" has the meaning
				prescribed in s.
				250.01(5),
				Stats.
(15) "Local registrar" means
				the county register of deeds or the city health officer in a city which has
				been approved by the state registrar under s.
				69.04(1),
				Stats., as a registration district.
(16) "Notice of removal" means the form
				prescribed and supplied by the department or reproduced from the form
				prescribed and supplied by the department for notifying and recording the
				removal of a human corpse from a hospital or nursing home by a funeral
				director, member of the immediate family or other authorized person.
(17) "Registered apprentice funeral director"
				means a person who is issued a certificate of apprenticeship under s.
				445.095(1),
				Stats., to be employed as an apprentice to a funeral director.
(18) "Release to cremate" means the form
				supplied by the county coroner or medical examiner which provides written
				permission required under s.
				979.10(1),
				Stats., for cremation of a human corpse and which contains information
				necessary to identify the deceased, the date and place of death, a description
				of the cause and manner of death, the name of the person requesting the
				cremation, the name of the funeral director or person acting in place of the
				funeral director and the date and time the release takes effect, and which
				specifies that no authorization is given to override the wishes of the next of
				kin.
(19) "Release to embalm" means
				the form supplied by the county coroner or medical examiner which provides
				written permission required under s.
				979.01(4),
				Stats., for embalming a human corpse in the case of a death subject to
				investigation under s.
				979.01,
				Stats., and which contains information necessary to identify the deceased, the
				date and place of death, the name of the funeral director or person acting in
				place of the funeral director and which specifies that no authorization is
				given to override the wishes of the next of kin.
(20) "Report for final disposition" means the
				form prescribed and supplied by the department or reproduced from the form
				prescribed and supplied by the department for the purpose of recording the
				facts of a death and reporting those facts to the coroner or medical examiner
				of jurisdiction under s.
				69.18(3),
				Stats., and to the local registrar in the registration district in which death
				was pronounced. This form serves as the official "burial transit permit" for
				transporting a human corpse out of state or by common carrier.
(21) "Stillbirth" means a fetus born dead,
				irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, with death indicated by the fact
				that after expulsion or extraction from the woman, the fetus does not breathe
				or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of
				the umbilical cord or definite movement of the voluntary muscles.
(22) "Universal precautions" means universal
				blood and body fluid precautions to be practiced by funeral directors and
				registered apprentice funeral directors in removing bodies and preparing them
				for burial or entombment or for transportation, as recommended by the U.S.
				public health service's centers for disease control, to prevent transmission of
				blood-borne and body fluid-borne infections.
Note: A copy of the universal precautions may be obtained
				  from the Bureau of Occupational Health, Division of Public Health, P.O. Box
				  2659, Madison, WI 53703.
Inquiries concerning death certificates, fetal death
					 reports, notices of removal, reports for final disposition and disinterment
					 permits should be sent to Vital Records Section, Division of Health Care Access
					 and Accountability, P.O. Box 309, Madison, Wisconsin 53701.