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

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.