Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:883

  • Authorizing agent: means a person legally entitled to authorize the cremation of human remains. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
  • Cremated human remains: means all the remains of the human body recovered after the completion of the cremation process, including processing, pulverization, or processing and pulverization which leaves only bone fragments reduced to unidentifiable dimensions and may possibly include the residue of any foreign material that was cremated with the human remains. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
  • Cremation: means the technical process, using direct flame and heat, that reduces human remains to bone fragments through heat and evaporation. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
  • Crematory: means the building or portion of a building that houses the cremation retort for the reduction of bodies of deceased persons to cremated human remains. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
  • Crematory authority: means the legal entity which is licensed by the board to operate a crematory. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
  • Disposition: means the shipment, interment, burial, cremation, or anatomical donation of a dead human body or parts of a dead human body. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
  • Funeral: means the observances held for a dead person usually before burial or cremation. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
  • Funeral director: means a person to whom a valid license has been issued by the board to perform the duties of funeral directing. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
  • Funeral establishment: means any place or premises duly licensed by the board and devoted to or used in the care and preparation for disposition of the body of a deceased person or maintained or held out to the public by advertising or otherwise as the office or place for the practice of funeral directing. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
  • Human remains: means the body of a deceased person, or part of a body or limb in any stage of decomposition that has been removed from a living or dead person. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
  • person: includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:10

            A. Except for those representations made by a funeral director pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 37:877(B)(1)(b)(ii), any person signing a cremation authorization form as an authorizing agent shall be personally and individually liable for all damage occasioned thereby and resulting therefrom. A crematory authority and a funeral director shall rely upon the representations of the authorizing agent in the cremation authorization form.

            B. There shall be no liability for a funeral director, funeral establishment, or crematory authority that, pursuant to a crematory authorization, arranges a cremation, cremates human remains pursuant to such authorization, or releases or disposes of the cremated human remains pursuant to such authorization.

            C. There shall be no liability for a funeral director, funeral establishment, or crematory authority in relying on information provided by the coroner or healthcare providers pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 37:877(B)(1)(b)(iii) and La. Rev. Stat. 40:1271.2 or their failure to provide such information.

            D. There shall be no liability for a funeral director, funeral establishment, or coroner for permitting an authorizing agent or designated representative thereof, or any interested party, to view human remains for the purpose of identification.

            E. A crematory authority shall not be responsible or liable for the commingling of cremated human remains if it has received a written authorization pursuant to the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 37:879(G).

            F. A crematory authority or any other person in possession of cremated human remains for a period of sixty days from the date of cremation shall not be responsible or liable for the disposition of the cremated human remains if such remains have been disposed of in accordance with the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 37:880(B).

            G. A crematory authority shall not be responsible or liable for any valuables delivered to the crematory authority with human remains.

            H. If a funeral director refuses to arrange a cremation or a crematory authority refuses to accept a body or to perform a cremation in accordance with La. Rev. Stat. 37:877(C), neither the funeral director nor the crematory authority shall be liable for refusing to accept a body or to perform a cremation.

            I. If a funeral director, funeral establishment, or crematory authority refuses to release or dispose of cremated human remains in accordance with La. Rev. Stat. 37:880(A)(2), then such persons or entities shall not be liable for their refusal to release or dispose of cremated human remains.

            Acts 2003, No. 1243, §2; Acts 2011, No. 16, §1; Acts 2018, No. 206, §3.

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