Section 500

Section 500.50 Transportation and Disposition of Dead Human Body

a) A local registrar may issue a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body authorizing a hospital to incinerate a dead fetus (a product of gestation of 20 or more weeks) or the body of an infant who dies immediately after birth and prior to release from the hospital. This permit may be issued only to a funeral director or person acting as such and only upon the presentation of a completed Certificate of Death (infant death) or Fetal Death.

b) A local registrar may issue a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body authorizing the parents of a dead fetus or deceased infant to bury the body in a private burial plot, if so requested by a funeral director or person acting as such. This permit may be issued only to such funeral director and only upon the presentation of a completed Certificate of Death or Fetal Death.

c) A Permit for Disposition of a Dead Human Body authorizing disinterment is required prior to the disinterment of a dead human body or fetus. The same permit may also authorize transportation of the body by common carrier, if desired. Such Permit is to be issued by the local registrar of the District in which the disinterment is to be made and shall be issued only to a funeral director or person acting as such. The application permit (VR207) shall be signed by the next of kin (if known). If the next of kin is unknown, the VR207 permit shall be signed by the party contracting with the funeral director for the disinterment. Investigations conducted by the coroner, medical examiner, state's attorney or any other related law enforcement official do not require the signature and/or approval from the next of kin and the VR207 should be signed by the appropriate official, or by order of a court. In the event several bodies ( or an entire cemetery) are to be disinterred, the local registrar may issue to a funeral director a single Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body to which a complete list (insofar as possible) of the identity of all the bodies is to be attached. In any case, the Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body authorizing disinterment must also show the final disposition of the body or bodies.

1) Disinterred human remains may not be transported within the State unless accompanied by a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body. The transportation of disinterred remains by common carrier or by private conveyance is subject to the same rules as for any dead human body. However, the remains of repatriated U.S. war dead may be transported within Illinois on the basis of the burial-transit permit issued at the point of origin. This permit must be exchanged for an Illinois Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body prior to interment or cremation in Illinois (see Section 500.50(d)(6)).

2) Disinterred human remains may not be reinterred within the State except upon explicit authorization to do so as evidenced by a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body.

1) No dead human body may be: interred in a grave, vault, or tomb; except on authorization to do so on the basis of a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body issued by the local registrar of the District in which the death occurred, if the death occurred in Cook County. If the death occurred in a county other than Cook County, the permit may be issued by the funeral director, except when the death was subject to investigation by the coroner, in which case the permit must be signed by the local registrar of the district where the death occurred. No dead human body may be surrendered to a physician, surgeon, medical college or school or other institution or school of mortuary science and later cremated, except on authorization to do so on the basis of a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body issued by the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred. This permit shall be issued to an Illinois licensed funeral director or person acting as such, upon presentation of a completed Certificate of Death or Fetal Death.

2) No dead human body whose death was subject to the coroner's or medical examiner's investigation may be disposed of (in Cook County) except on authorization to do so on the basis of a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body issued by the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred or (in counties other than Cook), the signing of Part II of the Report of Death by the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred. If disposition of any dead human remains is by cremation, no permit may be issued by the local registrar, unless presented with a duly executed Coroner's or Medical Examiner's Permit to Cremate a Dead Human Body.

3) No Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body is required for the disposition of ashes from cremation, unless the ashes are to be buried in a cemetery. In that case, any local registrar or any funeral director may issue the permit.

4) No Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body is required for the disposal of a part of a living human body, such as an amputated arm or leg, except when the part is to be interred in a cemetery. In that case, upon being requested to do so, the local registrar of the registration district where the cemetery is located will issue a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body. Said permit shall be issued upon receipt of a letter from the institution that performed the amputation or is in custody of the amputated part(s).

5) A dead fetus resulting from a fetal death is considered to be a dead human body, and its transportation and disposition are subject to this Part. However, if the dead fetus was delivered before the twentieth week of pregnancy, a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body is not required unless interment of the remains is to be made in a cemetery. In such cases, if the fetal death occurred in Cook County, the local registrar will issue a permit upon presentation of a completed Certificate of Fetal Death. If the fetal death occurred in a county other than Cook County, and was not subject to the coroner's investigation, any funeral director can issue the permit. If the fetal death was subject to a coroner's investigation, the local registrar of the district where death occurred shall sign the permit.

6) A permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body authorizing the disposition of the remains of the repatriated U.S. war dead shall be issued to the receiving funeral director by the local registrar of the district in which the body is to be interred or cremated. This Permit for Disposition of Dead Human body shall be issued in exchange for the burial-transit papers accompanying the body.

1) When a death occurs in Cook County, no dead human body may be transported within the State of Illinois except upon explicit authorization to do so on the basis of a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body issued by the appropriate local or subregistrar of vital records, to an Illinois licensed funeral director (or a person acting in his/her behalf). During the first 72 hours after death, such funeral director may move a dead body which is not subject to the Medical Examiner's investigation from the place of death to a mortuary in this State without first having obtained a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human body.

2) When a death occurs outside of Cook County, no dead human body may be transported within the State of Illinois until a Report of Death has been filed with the local registrar of the district where the death occurred. During the first 24 hours after death, the funeral director or person acting as such may move a dead body which is not subject to a coroner's investigation from the place of death to a mortuary in the state. In such cases, the Report of Death shall be mailed or otherwise filed within 24 hours of death.

3) No dead human body may be transported into the State of Illinois, unless it is accompanied by a burial-transit permit properly issued in accordance with the laws of the state from whence the body was transported, showing that all precautions required by the State of Illinois have been observed. Such burial-transit permit is sufficient authority also for interment or cremation of the body in Illinois, provided said permit specifies the place and or type of disposition, except in municipalities where local ordinance requires the issuance of a local permit prior to disposition, and except for repatriated U.S. war dead (see Section 500.50(d)(6)).

4) No dead human body shall be transported by common carrier in Illinois, unless accompanied by a Permit for Disposition of Dead Human Body issued by a local registrar of this State or, in case of a body shipped from another state, by a transit or burial-transit permit issued in accordance with the laws of the state from whence the body is shipped.

5) No dead human body shall be transported from Illinois to a point outside this State, unless the body has been prepared in conformity with the laws and regulations of the states through which and to which such transportation is made.

6) Presumptive records of death prepared upon the order of a court of competent jurisdiction shall show as the date of death, the date the order was entered by the court, unless otherwise specified in the order.

f) Upon the death of a person who had or is suspected of having an infectious or communicable disease or who was known to be a carrier or known to be subclinically infected with a disease that could be transmitted through contact with the person's body or bodily fluids, the body shall be labeled "Infectious Hazard," or with an equivalent term to inform persons having subsequent contact with the body, including any funeral director or embalmer, to take suitable precautions.

1) The label shall be prominently displayed on and affixed to the outer wrapping or covering of the body if the body is wrapped or covered in any manner.

2) Responsibility for such labeling shall lie with the attending physician or coroner who certifies death, or if the death occurs in a health care facility, with such staff member as may be designated by the administrator of the facility.

3) Suitable precautions consist of following the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) "Recommendations for Prevention of HIV Transmission in Health-Care Settings." (See 77 Ill. Adm. Code 690.1010(a)(2))

(Source: Amended at 15 Ill. Reg. 11706, effective August 1, 1991)