43-18-8. Identification of body or remains of deceased; affidavit required for cremated or organically reduced remains.

1. (1)

   The funeral director or person in charge of final disposition of a dead human body shall, prior to the interment, organic human reduction, or cremation of such dead human body, affix on the ankle or wrist of the deceased a tag of durable, noncorroding material permanently marked with the name of the deceased, the date of death, the social security number of the deceased, the county and state of death, and the serial number of any prosthesis removed from the dead human body by the funeral establishment, organic human reduction facility, or crematory.#

2. (2)

   No funeral director in charge of a crematory or organic human reduction facility shall permit any dead human body to be on the premises of the crematory or organic human reduction facility without the dead human body being identified as provided by this subsection, except when the body is placed in a cremation device or organic human reduction container; and the tag shall be removed from the body and kept in a regular location near the cremation device or organic human reduction container during cremation or the organic human reduction and thereafter placed atop the cremated or organically reduced remains on the inside of the vessel and any liner therein. The vessel containing cremated or organically reduced remains shall be plainly labeled on the outside so as to identify the deceased with the same information, excluding social security number, as is required to be on the tag inside the vessel and so as to identify the name of the person or firm to which such remains are to be delivered or released.#

3. (3)

   Tags and labels used for purposes of this subsection shall be in such standard forms as prescribed by the board. If the religious faith of the deceased prohibits such means of identification, alternative means of identification of the body may be used.#

A crematory or an organic human reduction facility may deliver or release cremated or organically reduced remains to a funeral establishment or a legally authorized person. The funeral director in charge of a crematory or an organic human reduction facility shall provide to the funeral establishment or legally authorized person to whom cremated or organically reduced remains are delivered or released, at the time of such delivery or release, an affidavit, on such standard form as prescribed by the board, signed and verified by such funeral director before a person authorized to administer oaths and attesting that the vessel contains substantially the remains of the deceased identified in accordance with subsection (a) of this Code section.#

No funeral establishment shall accept or take delivery of any cremated or organically reduced remains from any crematory or organic human reduction facility unless the vessel containing such remains is labeled as required by paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of this Code section and is accompanied by the affidavit required by subsection (b) of this Code section, which vessel and affidavit shall be provided by the funeral establishment to a legally authorized person upon delivery or release of the cremated or organically reduced remains.#