Section 146-5-3 - Responsibility of a Funeral DirectorA. Before embalming or making other alterations to the body, the funeral director must personally contact the certifying physician and ascertain that he/she can and will certify the death and that the cause of death is not such as to bring the case under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner system. A report of death is evidence of such contact and ascertainment.B. In medical examiner cases, funeral directors may proceed with embalming or other alterations to the body, including burial, only after they have personally ascertained from the medical examiner or Office of the Chief Medical Examiner that the body is no longer needed for further study or that such procedure will not interfere with further study. 1. A death certificate completed by the medical examiner is evidence that the body is not further needed, unless specific instructions have been conveyed to the contrary.2. A report of death completed by the funeral director after personal contact with the medical examiner is evidence of such contact and ascertainment.10- 146 C.M.R. ch. 5, § 3