CHAPTER 52. DISSECTION. Section numbers to notes refer to Revised Statutes of 1901. [Acts 1903, p. 84. In force February 25, 1903.] 5621a. Anatomical board, members, duties, powers.-1. That there shall be, and is hereby created a board for the control of the dead human bodies hereinafter described and for the distribution of such bodies among and to the schools and colleges in this state conferring the degree of doctor of medicine or doctor of dental surgery or both; said board shall be known as the state anatomical board and shall consist of the president of the state board of health, ex-officio, who shall act as chairman of said board, and one representative from each of the medical and dental schools and colleges in this state which are now and may hereafter become incorporated under the laws of this state, actually engaged in teaching, to be selected by and from the faculty thereof in accordance with the by-laws of such faculty. Said president of the said board of health shall call a meeting of said anatomical board for organization at a time to be fixed by him in the city of Indianapolis as soon as practicable after the passage of this act. Said anatomical board shall have full power to establish rules and regulations for its government and to appoint and remove proper officers and agents, and shall keep full and complete records of its transactions and of all material facts pertaining to the receipt and distribution of bodies. Said records shall be open at all times to the inspection by any member of said anatomical board and by any prosecuting attorney of any county within this state. This act probably supersedes all former statutes on the same subject, such statutes being sections 5607-5621, Burns' R. S. 1901. 5621b. Disposal of dead bodies.-2. It shall be the duty of every public officer, agent and servant, and every officer, agent and servant of any and every county, township, city, town, village, or other munici pailty, and of any and every almshouse, poor-house, prison, morgue, hospital, asylum, jail, lockup, stationhouse, workhouse or other public institution and of any and every charitable or benevolent institution supported in whole or in part at public expense, having in his or their possession, charge or control the dead body of any person not claimed by any relatives or legal representative, as hereinafter provided, and which may be required to be buried at public expense or the expense of any one of such public institutions, excepting only the dead bodies of such persons as shall have died with smallpox, diphtheria or scarlet fever, and they are hereby required to notify said anatomical board or such person as may be designated by the said board or its duly authorized officer or agent, whenever any such body or bodies come to his or their possession, charge or control for burial at public expense, or the expense of any one of such institutions. And every such officer, agent and servant shall, upon application by said anatomical board or its agent, without fee or reward, deliver such body to said board and permit said board and its agents and the schools and colleges, physicians and surgeons from time to time designated by them, who may comply with the provisions of this act, to take and remove the same. The notice aforesaid shall be given in writing and forwarded to said anatomical board within twenty-four hours after said officer, agent or servant comes into possession, charge or control of such body for burial, and shall include such material information as said anatomical board may designate. But no such body shall be delivered if within the time specified above and before actual delivery any person claiming to be and satisfying the officer in charge of such body that he is a relative to the deceased or a duly authorized representative thereof shall claim the said body for burial, but it shall be surrendered for interment, or if the deceased person was a traveler who died suddenly, except such traveler belong to that class commonly known as tramps, the said body shall be buried. 5621c. Receipt and distribution of bodies.-3. The said anatomical board or its agent may take and receive the bodies reported to it as aforesaid and shall distribute and deliver such as are received among and to such of the schools and colleges, physicians and surgeons entitled thereto as request in writing to receive the same, preference being given in such distribution to the incorporated schools and colleges. Each school and college shall receive annually, as nearly as may be practicable, such proportion of the entire number of bodies distributed as the number of bona fide students enrolled and in regular attendance at such school or college bears to the total number of bona fide students so enrolled and in attendance, and engaged, bona fide, at all such schools and colleges. The secretary, dean, or other proper officer of each such schools and colleges shall report to said anatomical board the names of all such students in attendance at such school or college at such times and in such form as said board may direct. All bodies shall be delivered among such schools and colleges in regular order so as to maintain as nearly as may be prac ticable an equitable allotment at all times; and bodies assigned to any school or college in regular order and refused by such school or college without sufficient cause, shall be charged against the quota of such school or college in such manner as not to prejudice any other school or college. Said anatomical board shall take receipt by name, or, if the name be unknown, by a description, for each body delivered; all receipts so obtained by said board shall be properly filed by it and instead of receiving and delivering said bodies themselves or through their agents or servants, the said anatomical board may from time to time either directly or by their authorized officer or agent, designate schools or colleges, or physicians or surgeons who shall receive them, and the number which each shall receive, and provided for this purpose such dead body shall be held subject to their order in the county where the death occurs for a period of not less than twenty-four hours after notice. Nothing in this act contained shall be construed to prevent any duly incorporated medical or dental college, or any duly licensed physician or surgeon from acquiring by gift or otherwise, from persons having lawful authority to dispose of the same, the dead body of any human being for the purpose of post mortem examinations, dissection or other scientific use. 5621d. Bonds of persons receiving bodies.-4. No school, college, physician or surgeon shall be allowed or permitted to receive any such body or bodies until a bond shall have been given to the state by such physician or surgeon, or by or in behalf of any such school or college or incorporated medical association, to be approved by the clerk of the circuit court in and for the county in which said physician or surgeon shall reside, or in which such school or college or incorporated medical association may be situate, and to be filed in the office of said clerk, which bond shall be in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, conditioned that all such bodies which the said physician or surgeon, or the said school or college shall receive thereafter shall be used only for the promotion of the science and art of medicine and of dentistry, and that the record containing descriptions of deceased bodies shall be preserved from loss. 5621e. Record kept of bodies.-5. It shall be the duty of every medical school or college and every such physician and surgeon in this state to keep in a suitable book provided for that purpose, a record of all such bodies received by such school or college or incorporated medical association, or by such physician or surgeon, in which book shall be plainly entered the name by which such deceased person was known in life if the same is known and a description of and any distinguishing marks upon such body, and the institution or officers from whom said body was received; and the date of death if the same be known and the time the body was received, which book shall be at all times subject to the inspection of any members of the said anatomical board or the prosecuting attorney of any county in this state. 5621f. Use of bodies.-6. It shall be the duty of each and every officer, agent and employe of every school and college and of every physician and surgeon receiving bodies under the provisions of this act to see that such bodies are used in the State of Indiana and for the promotion of the science and art of medicine and of dentistry, and for no other purpose whatsoever, and that after being so used the remains thereof are disposed of in accordance with law. 5621g. Removal of bodies, penalty.-7. That any person who shall, in the State of Indiana, sell or buy any body aforesaid, or in any way traffic therewith, or transmit or convey any such body to any place outside of said state, or cause or procure any such body to be so transmitted or conveyed, or who shall in said state disturb or remove, without legal permit, any body from any grave or vault, or who shall knowingly aid. in concealing any such dead human body or any part thereof so unlawfully taken, or who shall buy or receive by gift or otherwise any such dead human body so unlawfully taken, knowing the same to have been disinterred and removed from its place of burial or otherwise taken and removed in violation of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than three nor more than ten years. 5621h. Possession by demonstrator.-8. When any such dead body so unlawfully taken for the purposes of dissection shall be received or found in any building or rooms of any such school or college, it shall, for the purposes of this act, and of any prosecution thereunder, be deemed and taken to be in the possession of the demonstrator of anatomy of such school or college, unless the contrary is made to appear. 56211. Expenses, payment.-9. Neither the state nor any county, or municipality, or any officer, agent or servant thereof, shall be at any expense by reason of the delivery or distribution of any such body, but all expenses of such delivery and distribution and of said anatomical board. shall be paid by those receiving the bodies, in such manner as may be specified by said anatomical board, and by such school in proportion to the number of bodies which it has received; and no school which has failed or refused to pay its just proportion of such expenses as determined by said anatomical board, shall be allowed to receive any body or bodies, or parts thereof, while the amount so due remains unpaid. 5621j. Penalties for violation.-10. That any person having duties enjoined upon him by the provisions of this act who shall neglect, refuse or omit to perform the same as hereby required, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be liable to a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars for each offense, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year. |