142.1 - DELIVERY OF BODIES.
142.1 DELIVERY OF BODIES.
The body of every person dying in a public asylum, hospital,
county care facility, penitentiary, or reformatory in this state, or
found dead within the state, or which is to be buried at public
expense in this state, except those buried under the provisions of
chapter 144C or 249, and which is suitable for scientific purposes,
shall be delivered to the medical college of the state university, or
some osteopathic or chiropractic college or school located in this
state, which has been approved under the law regulating the practice
of osteopathic medicine or chiropractic; but no such body shall be
delivered to any such college or school if the deceased person
expressed a desire during the person's last illness that the person's
body should be buried or cremated, nor if such is the desire of the
person's relatives. Such bodies shall be equitably distributed among
said colleges and schools according to their needs for teaching
anatomy in accordance with such rules as may be adopted by the Iowa
department of public health. The expense of transporting said bodies
to such college or school shall be paid by the college or school
receiving the same. If the deceased person has not expressed a
desire during the person's last illness that the person's body should
be buried or cremated and no person authorized to control the
deceased person's remains under section 144C.5 requests the person's
body for burial or cremation, and if a friend objects to the use of
the deceased person's body for scientific purposes, said deceased
person's body shall be forthwith delivered to such friend for burial
or cremation at no expense to the state or county. Unless such
friend provides for burial and burial expenses within five days, the
body shall be used for scientific purposes under this chapter. Section History: Early Form
[C73, § 4018; C97, § 4946; S13, § 4946-b; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §
2351; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 142.1]
Section History: Recent Form
2008 Acts, ch 1051, §1, 22; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §41
Referred to in § 142.2, 142.3, 156.2, 252.27
Approval of medical, osteopathic, and chiropractic colleges, see §
148.3, 151.4