1. Releasing bodies to home funeral families

2. Legal and safety facts
families may bring loved ones home after death in all states
includes after accidents, autopsies, organ donation
embalming is not required by any state for home funerals
according to the CDC, NCID, PAHO & WHO, bodies do not pose an increased risk of infection after death
cooling techniques are sufficient
body cleanliness is key
universal precautions only if necessary
Go right to what matters most to hospital staff: legal and safety issues
Stress positive aspects of family care and that is is both legal and safe
Indicate that the decision to bring a loved one home after an accident, organ donation, or autopsy is a choice families have: focus on ways to assist rather than discourage

3. What home funeral families may legally do
conduct care and shelter deceased at home
file death certificates and obtain transport permits
transport the body home, to a church, or to disposition
hire a home funeral guide or funeral director to assist
Explain what families can do
Explain that you will go over exactly how their responsibilities are different in a home funeral case as opposed to a body released to a funeral director but that they first need to understand what the family it trying to achieve

4. Tell Your Hospital to Home Funeral Story
Why someone might want to bring a loved one home from the hospital
What obstacles might be encountered
You have to construct this slide.
Your chance to win them over with a heartfelt story – any story that you know of – that explains why it is important to respect and assist
Bring up things that might impeded the family, explain how that becomes part of their experience, their death story, and how they have the power to influence that for the better

5. Your hospital’s body release policy and procedure
List key phrases
You have to construct this slide.
List key phrases and policy numbers for their policy and procedures that support families’ rights

6. What hospital staff need to know
Find and cite here the exact laws in your state that:
define next-of-kin’s right to custody and control of the body
state when the hospital staff person responsible for signing the death certificate has fulfilled his or her duties (Example: “…after certifying the fact of death and completing the death record…”)
indemnify the hospital personnel from legal responsibility (Example: Any person or institution releasing a body…shall be held harmless against and shall not be liable...”)
“…the funeral director, next-of-kin, or designated agent…”
You have to construct this slide.
Do your homework and cite specific laws that protect the home funeral family AND the hospital personnel as indicated above.
Let them know that they may be invited to stay and help, but they are not required to after the death certificate has been signed, all hospital procedures have been completed, and the body has been surrendered to the next-of-kin who is now in charge.

7. HIPAA Consent to Share Admission forms ask permission to share with:
physicians and other health care providers
Medicare and other insurance providers
Consent to share list specifies:
individuals, next-of-kin, designated agents
legal guardians
HIPAA 45 CFR (b), ensures that an individual’s health care information remains private even after death
(2)Funeral directors. A covered entity may disclose protected health information to funeral directors [next of kin or designated agent]…as necessary to carry out their duties with respect to the decedent…
Cite HIPAA rules concerning confidentiality of hospital patient rights even after death. A contract between a funeral director and the family does not involve the hospital unless there is a qualifying medical reason to disclose information. If the family is acting as its own funeral director, that medical information may be shared with them. Hospital staff interface with funeral homes only at the request of the family.

8. Other factors and concerns
Your ideas and messages
You have to construct this slide.
Add your ideas and messages here

9. Your name and organization
State your focus here:
Educational Presentations
Trainings and Seminars
Home Funeral Advocacy
Natural Burial Advocacy
Your name
Address
Phone
Your logo
You have to construct this slide.
Description of your organization