Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024
Section 6-1-24 - Permission to cremate or hydrolyze, disclosure for unclaimed remains, removing objects from body24.1. If a funeral establishment has been contracted by the authorized representative of a deceased person to provide a cremation or hydrolyzation, the licensee in charge shall cooperate with the funeral establishment's contracted crematory or alkaline hydrolysis facility to:24.1.1. get written authorization from the authorized representative who has the legal right to authorize the cremation or hydrolysis; and,24.1.2. get a permit for cremation or hydrolyzation from the county medical examiner, assistant county medical examiner, or the county coroner in whose county jurisdiction death takes place as stated on the death certificate, pursuant to the provisions of W.Va. Code § 61-12-1, et. seq. and § 30-6-1, et. seq.24.2. The contracted funeral establishment shall not release a dead human body to a crematory before the written authorization to cremate or hydrolysis from the authorized representative and the permit for cremation or hydrolyzation are executed.24.3. A funeral establishment shall, in writing, disclose to the authorized representative during the arrangement conference that unclaimed remains may be buried in a common grave and may not be recoverable in their entirety or at all, if exhumed at a later date.24.4. A funeral service only licensee shall remove all non-combustible objects, hazardous medical equipment and other objects which may not incinerate from a deceased human body prior to releasing the body to a crematory. In doing so, the licensee shall first ask the authorized representative or next of kin if the decedent may have any of these objects and shall disclose to the authorized representative that these objects must be removed because of their non-combustible or dangerous properties.