Exam 3 Study Guide Flashcards
What is the basis for study?
To gain sufficient knowledge to act
What case created the basis for study?
Hawke, Adam vs Murray
The rules of civil conduct
- commanding what’s right
- prohibiting what’s wrong
Law
Broadly determined
Mortuary service in relation to the law
Mortuary Law / Funeral Law
The science or art of disposing of the death
Mortuary Service
What is the law of admiralty?
Law of the sea
What is the Talmudic law? (What other names does it have?)
Jewish Law / Law of Moses
Pentateuch
What is Pentateuch?
First 5 books of old testament, Talmudic law
What are the 5 books in Pentateuch?
- Genesis
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
What is Genesis (first book) about?
Beginning of everything
What is Exodus (second book) about?
10 commandments
(exit)
What is Leviticus (third book) about?
Sanctification
What is Numbers (fourth book) about?
Number related things such as the census / statistics
What is Deuteronomy (fifth book) about?
Review of the first 4 books
What is Roman Law?
From the beginning of time up until the fall of the Roman empire
Everything is planned, has a pathway
What is Common Law?
Catholic church law decreed by the pope
Everything is liturgical, everyone knows it all
What is Napoleonic Law?
French law from the time of Napoleon
He wanted everyone to be buried above ground (mausoleums)
What is Anglo-Saxon Common Law?
The basic for most American laws
Generally accepted moral standards
(Ten commandments and Golden Rule as examples)
How is dead body defined?
Body of a human being
Is a fully disintegrated corpse a dead body?
No, it’s human remains
What did the Thomas v Anderson case decide?
Life ends when the heart and respiration stop
What did the Lovats v District Court case decide?
For legal medical purposes: An individual has sustained irreversible cessation of all functioning of the brain, including the brain stem, is DEAD
aka Brain dead is dead
What did the State (Ohio) v Glass case decide?
“A cadaver is not an everlasting thing. After undergoing an undefined degree of decomposition, it ceases to be a dead body in the eyes of the law”
What did English law state about the legal status of dead bodies?
- The body was in control of the church
- No one had property rights of the body
- The body was buried in church property
What did Secular Times state about the legal status of dead bodies?
The courts ruled that survivors had quasi property rights in the dead
What did the US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals sat about quasi property rights in the dead?
Church is no longer responsible for disposition of remains
What did the Brotherton v Cleveland case decide?
There is a legal bundle of rights (and obligations) in an object rather than the object itself
To possess, use, exclude, profit, and to dispose
Disposition: right to the body (must be treated with respect)
Where can there be a ground burial?
In a public or private cemetery
Where can there be an entombment?
In a mausoleum
If you’re going to scatter remains on land (public or private) what do you need to know?
Inform the Environmental Protection Agency
Ask Permission
What do you need to know about scattering remains in the ocean?
Must be 3 nautical miles from the shoreline
Report of the scattering must be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency
What do you need to know about Burial At Sea?
- Weighted casket (insures remains sink to the bottom rapidly and permanently)
- File with the Environmental Protection Agency
- Family isn’t able to go with the Navy during the ceremony and burial part
- Family is given coordinates on where the ceremony is, where the casket is dropped, not where it lands
- Bodies MUST go in a casket
What do you need to know about Anatomical Donations?
- Whole body donation (not organ)
- Donation must be done to a recognized institute
- Can be done at need or in advance
- Remains must meet criteria: can vary, weight and height, no communicable disease, intact
The body is physically within the custody of the next of kin (even if not physically next to them)
Actual Possession
The body is physically in the custody of another (hospital or mortuary)
Constructive Possession
What does the Funeral Contract need to have?
Oral or Written
Disclosures
1) Itemization
2) Cash Transaction
3) Late Charges
4) Collection Fees
5) Estate Liability
6) Joint & Several (individual) Liability
7) Disclaimer of warranties
What is the paramount right to disposition?
Provides an individual with broad authority in regard to the funeral and ultimate disposition of a dead body
What are the factors affecting the general rule of disposition?
Wishes of the decedent (need to be in writing and notarized)
Special Relationship (such as same sex couples which need NOK waiver and acceptance of partner) (or secret affairs or step parents)
Waiver (nok wants nothing to do with the process
What are statutory exceptions of disposition?
Wishes of the decedent (talk to family about your wishes)
Power of Attorney (needs to be a durable POA, which authorizes them to also be in charge of disposition)
Surviving Spouse
What is this:
- The person in charge can donate the deceased without the approval of the deceased
- any individual of sound mind and legal age may donate all or part of their body
in a will
other than a will
next of kin
no question regarding gift
Anatomical Gift
What are the legal duties of the funeral director?
Care for the body
Assume custody
Funeral contract
Statutory Law
What kind of permits does the statutory duties have?
Death certificate
Report of death
To who should the death certificate be filed with? and within how many days?
Local registrar (county in which death took place)
10 days after DOD
When should the Report of Death be filed?
Within 24 hours (to local registrar)