Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 12, March 22, 2024
a) A local
registrar may issue a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body to a funeral
director authorizing a hospital to incinerate a dead fetus (a product of
gestation of 20 or more weeks) or the body of an infant who dies immediately
after birth and prior to release from the hospital. This permit may be issued
only by a local registrar to a funeral director upon the filing of the
appropriate death or fetal death certificate.
b) A local registrar may issue a Permit for
Disposition of Dead Human Body authorizing the parents of a dead fetus or
deceased infant to bury the body in a private burial plot, if requested by a
funeral director. This permit may be issued only to the funeral director and
only upon the presentation of a completed Certificate of Death or Fetal
Death.
c) A Permit for Disposition
of a Dead Human Body authorizing disinterment is required prior to the
disinterment of a dead human body or fetus. The same permit may also authorize
transportation of the body by common carrier, if desired. The permit shall be
issued by the local registrar of the Local Registration District in which the
disinterment is to be made and shall be issued only to a funeral director. The
application for disinterment shall be signed by the surviving spouse of the
decedent or, if none, a surviving adult child of the decedent or, if no
surviving spouse or adult children, then a parent or sibling of the decedent.
If the surviving spouse, surviving adult child, adult children, or a parent or
adult sibling of the decedent does not consent, a court order will be required.
If the applicant is a surviving adult child and there is no surviving spouse,
all other surviving adult children, except for the applicant, must either sign
the application for disinterment or be notified by Certified U.S. Mail prior to
the issuance of the permit for disinterment. When notification of a
disinterment request is required, the local registrar in the registration
district where the remains are currently located shall send the notification by
certified mail. This notification shall include a copy of the requestor's
completed disinterment/reinterment application (VR 207). The notification will
indicate that the surviving relative's signature on the copy of the application
included with the certified mail is required to approve the disinterment
request. The notification shall also indicate the disinterment request will not
be approved unless the surviving relative's signature is on the application and
returned to the local registrar within 30 days of the date on the certified
notification. Investigations conducted by the coroner, medical examiner,
state's attorney or any other related law enforcement official do not require
the signature or approval from the next of kin, and the application for
disinterment must be signed by the coroner, medical examiner, state's attorney
or other related law enforcement official, or by order of the Illinois Circuit
Court. If multiple bodies or an entire cemetery is to be disinterred, the local
registrar may issue a single Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body to a
funeral director, to which a complete list, as far as possible, of the identity
of all the bodies is to be attached. The Permit for Disposition of Dead Human
Body authorizing disinterment shall also show the final disposition of the body
or bodies. If the disinterred remains are to be cremated, the medical examiner
or coroner in the county of disinterment shall have the authority to issue a
cremation permit.
1) Disinterred human remains
shall not be transported within the State unless accompanied by a Permit for
Disposition of Dead Human Body. The transportation of disinterred remains by
common carrier or by private conveyance is subject to the requirements of
subsections (e)(1) through (6) that apply to any dead human body. The remains
of repatriated U.S. war dead may be transported within Illinois on the basis of
the burial-transit permit issued at the point of origin. The permit shall be
exchanged for an Illinois Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body prior to
interment or cremation in Illinois (see subsection (d)(6)).
2) Disinterred human remains shall not be
reinterred within the State except as authorized by a Permit for Disposition of
Dead Human Body.
d)
Disposition of Dead Human Body
1) A dead human
body shall not be interred in a grave, vault or tomb, except as authorized by a
Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body. If the death occurred in the State
of Illinois and burial is also in this State, a funeral director may issue the
permit. When the body is being shipped out of State for disposition or when the
death was subject to investigation by the medical examiner or coroner, the
permit must be signed prior to the disposition of the body by the local
registrar of the district where the death occurred. A dead human body shall not
be surrendered to a physician, surgeon, medical college or school or other
institution or school of mortuary science and later cremated, except as
authorized by a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body issued by the local
registrar of the district in which the death occurred. This permit shall be
issued to a funeral director upon presentation of a completed Certificate of
Death or Certificate of Fetal Death. A dead human body shall not be donated to
a physician, surgeon, medical college or school or other institution or school
of mortuary science without the applicable permit (VR 204) authorized by the
local registrar in the registration district where the death occurred. The
signed donation permit must be signed by the local registrar prior to the
donation. When it is known that a cremation of the remains will occur after the
donation is completed, a signed cremation permit (VR
204.1) is required to cremate.
To obtain a signed cremation permit, the funeral director will present a
completed Certificate of Death or Certificate of Fetal Death to the medical
examiner/coroner in the county where the death occurred. Upon review of the
permit and the completed Certificate of Death or Certificate of Fetal Death the
medical examiner/coroner will determine whether to authorize the cremation.
Approved and signed VR
204.1 permits shall be returned
to the funeral director.
2) A dead
human body being shipped out of State for disposition, or whose death was
subject to the coroner's or medical examiner's investigation, shall not be
disposed of, except as authorized by the signing of Part II of the Report of
Death (VR 205) by the local registrar of the district in which the death
occurred. If disposition of a dead human body is by cremation, the local
registrar shall not sign the permit, unless presented with a duly executed
Coroner's or Medical Examiner's Permit to Cremate a Dead Human Body.
3) No Permit for Disposition of Dead Human
Body is required for the disposition of ashes from cremation, unless the ashes
are to be buried in a cemetery. In that case, any local registrar or any
funeral director may issue the permit.
4) No Permit for Disposition of Dead Human
Body is required for the disposal of a part of a living human body, such as an
amputated arm or leg, except when the part is to be interred in a cemetery. In
that case, upon being requested to do so, the local registrar of the
registration district where the cemetery is located shall issue a Permit for
Disposition of Dead Human Body. The permit shall be issued upon receipt of a
letter from the institution that performed the amputation or is in custody of
the amputated part or parts.
5) A
dead fetus resulting from a fetal death (see
410 ILCS
535/1 ) is considered to be a dead human body, and its
transportation and disposition are subject to this Part. However, if the dead
fetus was delivered before the 20th week of
gestation, a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body is not required unless
interment of the remains is to be made in a cemetery. In that case, if the
fetal death was not subject to a medical examiner or coroner's investigation,
any funeral director can issue the permit. If the fetal death was subject to a
coroner's investigation, the local registrar of the district where death
occurred shall sign the permit.
6)
A permit for a group burial or group cremation (when the manner of death is
"Natural") for fetuses under 20 weeks gestation may be issued without the
completion and filing of a Certificate of Fetal Death.
A) In the case of group burial, when the
fetal death is under 20 weeks gestation and not subject to coroner's or medical
examiner's jurisdiction, a burial or transit permit can be issued by any
funeral director without a Certificate of Fetal Death.
B) In the case of group cremation, when the
fetal death is under 20 weeks gestation and not subject to coroner's or medical
examiner's jurisdiction, hospital personnel will provide copies of the signed
Fetal Death Disposition-Notification Form for each fetus to a funeral director
to be presented to the coroner or medical examiner in the county where the
fetal death occurred. The coroner or medical examiner will issue one cremation
permit for all fetuses or individual cremation permits for each fetus in the
group cremation. Upon receipt of the authorized cremation permit or permits,
any funeral director will then issue the Permit for Disposition of Dead Human
Body (VR 205). The funeral director will provide the VR 205 and the authorized
cremation permit to the local registrar in the registration district where the
fetal death occurred. The local registrar shall sign the VR 205.
C) In any case that the coroner or medical
examiner deems necessary to investigate and to certify the cause of death, a
Fetal Death Certificate shall be completed and filed irrespective of the fetus'
weeks of gestation.
7) A
Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body authorizing the disposition of the
remains of the repatriated U.S. war dead shall be issued to the receiving
funeral director by the local registrar of the district in which the body is to
be interred or cremated. The Permit for Disposition of Dead Human body shall be
issued in exchange for the burial-transit papers accompanying the
body.
e) Transportation
of Dead Human Body
1) When a death occurs in
Illinois, during the first 24 hours after notification of the death, the
funeral director may move a dead body that is not subject to a medical examiner
or coroner's investigation from the place of death to a mortuary in the State
without first having obtained a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human
Body.
2) No dead human body may be
transported into the State of Illinois, unless it is accompanied by the
Burial-Transit Permit (VR 205) properly issued in accordance with the laws of
the state from which the body was transported, showing that all precautions
required by the State of Illinois have been observed. The burial-transit permit
is sufficient authority also for interment or cremation of the body in
Illinois, provided that the permit specifies the place and type of disposition,
except in municipalities where local ordinance requires the issuance of a local
permit prior to disposition, and except for repatriated U.S. war
dead.
3) No dead human body shall
be transported by common carrier in Illinois, unless accompanied by a Permit
for Disposition of Dead Human Body issued by a local registrar of this State.
In the case of a body shipped from another state, the body shall be accompanied
by a transit or burial-transit permit issued in accordance with the laws of the
state from which the body is shipped.
4) No dead human body shall be transported
from Illinois to a point outside this State unless the body has been prepared
in accordance with the laws and regulations of the states through which and to
which transportation is made.
5)
Presumptive records of death prepared upon the order of a court of competent
jurisdiction shall show, as the date of death, the date the order was entered
by the court, unless otherwise specified in the order.
6)
No permit for transportation
signed by the local registrar is required prior to transporting a dead human
body out of the State of Illinois, at the direction of a federally designated
organ procurement organization, for the purpose of organ or tissue donation.
The dead human body being transported for the purpose of organ or tissue
donation shall be accompanied by a self-issued VR 206
permit. The VR 206 permit shall be completed by an
Illinois-licensed funeral director and embalmer or an Illinois-licensed funeral
director and shall serve as notification to the county medical examiner or
coroner of the jurisdiction or county in which the death occurred that the dead
human body is being transported out of Illinois for a period not to exceed 36
hours. This subsection (e)(6) applies only to instances in
which the dead human body is to be returned to Illinois prior to
disposition. (Section 7 of the Act)
f) Upon the death of a person who had or is
suspected of having an infectious or communicable disease or who was known to
be a carrier or known to be sub-clinically infected with a disease that could
be transmitted through contact with the person's body or bodily fluids, the
body shall be labeled "Infectious Hazard", or with an equivalent term to inform
persons having subsequent contact with the body, including any funeral director
or embalmer.
1) The label shall be prominently
displayed on and affixed to the outer wrapping or covering of the body if the
body is wrapped or covered in any manner.
2) Responsibility for labeling shall lie with
the attending physician or coroner who certifies death or, if the death occurs
in a health care facility, with the staff member designated by the
administrator of the facility.
3)
The person responsible for completion of the medical certification of cause of
death shall record, on the death record, the presence of
methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, clostridium difficile, or
vancomycin-resistant enterococci if the infection is a contributing factor to
or the cause of death. (Section
18.1(c) of the
Act)
g) In every case in
which a drug overdose is determined to be the cause of or a contributing factor
in a death, the coroner or medical examiner shall report the death to the
Department. When the cause of the overdose is available, the coroner or medical
examiner shall report the cause of the overdose to the Department.