§327-32  Administration; duties of health
officers, etc. (a)  The department of health shall administer this part and
may provide by rules and regulations, promulgated pursuant to chapter 91, for
the distribution and use of unclaimed bodies as authorized in section 327-31.



(b)  The department upon receipt of notice of
an unclaimed body shall deliver the body to a university, hospital, or
institution for the purposes authorized in section 327-31.



(c)  Every head officer of a hospital, nursing
home, correctional facility, funeral parlor, or mortuary and every county
medical examiner or coroner and every state or county officer, and every other
person who has possession, charge, or control of any unclaimed dead human body
required to be buried at public expense shall:



(1)  Exercise due diligence to notify the relatives of
the decedent;



(2)  In the absence of any known relative or friend of
the deceased or any representative of a fraternal society of which the deceased
was a member, who desires to direct the disposition of the remains in a manner
other than in this part provided, notify the department not later than
immediately after the end of twenty-four hours following the death, stating,
whenever possible, the name, age, sex, and cause of death of the decedent.



(d)  Every head officer of a hospital, nursing
home, or correctional facility in which a decedent was a patient or inmate at
the time of death and whose body is unclaimed and required to be buried at
public expense shall transmit to the department a medical history of the
decedent for the purpose of identification and permanent record, which records
shall be open to inspection by any state or county public official or
prosecuting attorney. [L 1967, c 240, pt of §1; HRS §327-32]