Carol: Native Americans also generally have a belief that body parts must be buried with the rest of the body at the time of death and will recover any severed limbs for temporary burial until the person passes.
It is critical to have a release form that includes warnings regarding the hazards of handling human remains (biohazards and formaldehyde hazards for example) as well as an admonition that the recipient must follow all federal, state and local regulations that may apply (both in your state and the destination state if different - you do not have to spell out the regulations - just warn the patient that they must comply). As a further precaution, we do not release body parts directly to the patient or family, we release to the patient's in-house clinician who then reviews the warnings with the patient before releasing. Both the clinician and the patient sign the release form which then becomes part of the patient's records and a copy is retained in the lab for our records. Someone mentioned releasing fetal remains for burial. Be very careful here as the regulations vary greatly from state to state and sometimes even jurisdiction to jurisdiction with a state. In our state a properly executed fetal death certificate must be filed with the county of death and a burial transit permit issued whenever the fetus is more than 20 weeks of gestation before the remains can be transported by anyone other than a licensed funeral director. Have your institutional legal counsel check for your local regulation before proceeding. Good luck. Joe Galbraith -----Original Message----- From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Carol Bryant Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 2:38 PM To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu Subject: [Histonet] disposal of body parts Hello Histonetters! I work in a small multispecialty clinic laboratory where the majority of our specimens are derm, gi biopsies, etc. Today we had an amputated finger sent for gross only from our ambulatory surgery center and the patient wishes to have it back. Does CAP have any specific requirements in regard to disposal of tissue that would apply here? Don't some patients wish to have their amputated limbs back for religious reasons? If so, what is the proper protocol? Should they sign some type of release form? Thanks, Carol Carol Bryant, CT (ASCP) Cytology/Histology Manager Pathology Services Lexington Clinic Phone (859) 258-4082 Fax (859) 258-4081 cb...@lexclin.com NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY This electronic message, including attachments, is for the sole use of the named recipient and may contain confidential or privileged information protected by the State of Kentucky and/or Federal regulations. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, copying or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient and have received this communication in error, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank you. _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet