Missouri Revised Statutes
Chapter 194 - Death — Disposition of Dead Bodies
Section 194.150 - Disposal of paupers' bodies.

Effective - 28 Aug 1939
194.150. Disposal of paupers' bodies. — 1. Superintendents or wardens of penitentiaries, houses of correction and bridewells, hospitals, insane asylums and poorhouses, and coroners, sheriffs, jailers, city and county undertakers, and all other state, county, town or city officers having the custody of the body of any deceased person required to be buried at public expense, shall be and hereby are required immediately to notify the secretary of the board, or the person duly designated by the board or by its secretary to receive such notice, whenever any such body or bodies come into his or their custody, charge or control, and shall, without fee or reward, deliver, within a period not to exceed thirty-six hours after death, except in cases within the jurisdiction of a coroner where retention for a longer time may be necessary, such body or bodies into the custody of the board and permit the board or its agent or agents to take and remove all such bodies, or otherwise dispose of them; provided, that each educational institution receiving a body from the board shall hold such body for at least thirty days, during which time any relative or friend of any such deceased person or persons shall have the right to take and receive the dead body from the possession of any person in whose charge or custody it may be found, for the purpose of interment, upon paying the expense of such interment.
2. Each educational institution securing a dead body shall pay all necessary expense incurred in the delivery thereof, including cost of notice to the secretary of the board or his agent, which notice shall be by telegraph, when necessary to insure immediate notice. A correct record of all such bodies, including the name and date of death, shall be kept in a book provided for that purpose by the county clerk of the county in which such person died, and by the city health commissioner of the city of St. Louis, and such record shall be promptly furnished said officer by the person or persons reporting said bodies to the secretary of the board or his agent.
3. Whenever any person fails to give the notice and deliver the body of a deceased person as required by this section, and by reason of such failure such body shall become unfit for anatomical purposes, and is so certified by the duly authorized officer or agent of the board, such body shall be buried at the expense of the person so failing to notify and deliver such body.
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(RSMo 1939 § 10000)
Prior revisions: 1929 § 9129; 1919 § 7344; 1909 § 8325

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Structure Missouri Revised Statutes

Missouri Revised Statutes

Title XII - Public Health and Welfare

Chapter 194 - Death — Disposition of Dead Bodies

Section 194.005 - Death, legal definition.

Section 194.010 - Encasement of bodies to be shipped.

Section 194.020 - Hermetically sealed coffin, specifications.

Section 194.060 - Transportation of dead body by common carrier, requirements.

Section 194.070 - Preparation of certain bodies for shipment supervised by health officer.

Section 194.080 - Preparation of certain dead bodies for shipment.

Section 194.090 - Preparation necessary for bodies of persons who died of certain communicable diseases.

Section 194.100 - Transportation of bodies where cause of death is noncontagious.

Section 194.105 - Disinterment for transport to location outside original cemetery — notice, to whom, contents.

Section 194.110 - Penalty for violation.

Section 194.115 - Autopsy — consent required — penalty for violation — availability of report, to whom.

Section 194.117 - Sudden infant death — notification — autopsy by certified child death pathologist required, procedure, release to parents or guardian — cost, how paid — department of health and senior services duties — rules and regulations.

Section 194.119 - Right of sepulcher, the right to choose and control final disposition of a dead human body.

Section 194.120 - Missouri state anatomical board — members — responsibilities.

Section 194.130 - Meetings of board — organization — funds.

Section 194.140 - Acceptance of provisions of this law — bond — prohibited actions and penalties.

Section 194.150 - Disposal of paupers' bodies.

Section 194.160 - Distribution of bodies.

Section 194.170 - Autopsy not to be held, when.

Section 194.180 - Penalty for violation.

Section 194.197 - Depth at which body is buried may be regulated.

Section 194.200 - Disposition of a stillborn child, definitions, duties of hospital, duties of parents, collection of costs, penalties.

Section 194.210 - Definitions.

Section 194.215 - Applicability of law.

Section 194.220 - Registry to be established — gift may be made by whom.

Section 194.225 - Procedure for making a gift — donor cards, requirements — gift made by will, effect of — registry authorized — website link.

Section 194.230 - Amendment or revocation, procedure.

Section 194.235 - Refusal to make a gift, evidenced how, requirements.

Section 194.240 - Person other than donor barred from making, amending, or revoking donor's gift — revocation not a bar to making a gift — parent may revoke or amend a gift of a child.

Section 194.245 - Gift for transplantation, therapy, research, or education, priority list for persons making.

Section 194.250 - Document of gift, procedure.

Section 194.255 - Persons eligible to receive gift in the document of gift — gifts not naming persons, effect of — refusal of gift required when.

Section 194.260 - Reasonable search to identify donors — immunity from liability, when.

Section 194.263 - Delivery of document of gift not required — examination and copying of document permitted, when.

Section 194.265 - Referral to procurement organization, diligent search of donor registry required — reasonable examination of body parts permitted, when — search for minor's parents required, when — attending physician shall not procure, when.

Section 194.270 - Hospitals to enter into agreements with procurement organizations.

Section 194.275 - Purchase or sale of body parts for valuable consideration prohibited — penalty — definition.

Section 194.280 - Falsification of documents, penalty.

Section 194.285 - Immunity from liability, when.

Section 194.290 - Declarations and advance health care directives — definitions — gift in conflict with, donor or physician to resolve.

Section 194.292 - Requirements for valid execution of a document of gift — presumption of validity, when — requirements for out-of-state execution of documents.

Section 194.293 - Uniformity of law a consideration in construing statutory provisions.

Section 194.294 - Effect of law on certain federal acts.

Section 194.295 - Embalmers authorized to enucleate eyes, when.

Section 194.297 - Organ donor program fund established — funding, administration, investment of moneys — transfer to general revenue prohibited.

Section 194.299 - Money in organ donor program fund, how expended.

Section 194.300 - Organ donation advisory committee established in department of health and senior services, appointment, qualifications, expenses, terms.

Section 194.302 - Advisory committee's powers and duties — annual report, due when.

Section 194.304 - Transfer of donor registry information, department of revenue to cooperate — registry requirements.

Section 194.307 - Effective date for sections 194.240, 194.297 through 194.304 and section 302.171.

Section 194.320 - Physical or mental disability, or congenital condition of recipient of anatomical gift — limitations on hospitals, physicians, and procurement organizations to determine ultimate recipient.

Section 194.321 - Recipients and donors, COVID-19 vaccination status not to be considered, when, exception.

Section 194.350 - Disposition of cremated remains — if no directions are given, procedure, notice.

Section 194.360 - Veterans, cremated remains — definitions — funeral establishment or coroner, authorized release of identifying information, to whom — release of remains, when — immunity from liability.

Section 194.375 - Citation of law — definitions.

Section 194.378 - Final disposition of fetal remains, mother has right to determine.

Section 194.381 - Means of disposition.

Section 194.384 - Written standards required for protection of mother's right to determine final disposition.

Section 194.387 - Miscarriage — mother's right to determine final disposition of remains — counseling made available, when.

Section 194.390 - Right to legal abortion not affected.

Section 194.400 - Definitions.

Section 194.405 - Scope of law.

Section 194.406 - Unmarked human burials, knowledge or discovery — notice to local law enforcement officer or state historic preservation officer — jurisdiction, how determined.

Section 194.407 - State historic preservation officer, jurisdiction of unmarked human burials, duties — general archaeological investigation, when — professional archaeologist, advise state historic preservation officer, when.

Section 194.408 - State historic preservation officer, reinterment, duties — consultation with advisory council on historic preservation, when — conformity with federal law.

Section 194.410 - Human burial sites — knowingly disturb, penalty — appropriation for sale, penalty.

Section 194.425 - Abandonment of a corpse without notifying authorities, penalty.

Section 194.500 - Definitions.

Section 194.503 - Right-of-way — use of lead vehicles — emergency vehicles with right-of-way, when.

Section 194.506 - Following distance — flashing emergency lights used, when — toll-free passage, when.

Section 194.509 - Regulations for nonparticipating vehicle operators — violations, penalty.

Section 194.512 - Use of amber lights for motorcycles — ordinances permitted.