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.
(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.