Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:846 – Refusal to grant or renew licenses; revocation or suspension; grounds; hearings
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:846
- Addiction: means the physiological or psychological dependency on drugs or alcohol. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Association: means a partnership, a combination or group of individuals, or an unincorporated organization of persons having a common interest. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Authorizing agent: means a person legally entitled to authorize the cremation of human remains. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Board: means the Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Burial: means the act or process of disposing of a human body by depositing it in the earth, at sea, or by any other accepted disposition. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Certificate: means a license issued by the board. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Continuing education: means that education which is obtained by a licensee through education processes in order to develop, maintain, improve, or expand skills and knowledge. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Cremated human remains: means all the remains of the human body recovered after the completion of the cremation process, including processing, pulverization, or processing and pulverization which leaves only bone fragments reduced to unidentifiable dimensions and may possibly include the residue of any foreign material that was cremated with the human remains. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Cremation: means the technical process, using direct flame and heat, that reduces human remains to bone fragments through heat and evaporation. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Cremation retort: means the enclosed space within which the cremation process takes place. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Crematory: means the building or portion of a building that houses the cremation retort for the reduction of bodies of deceased persons to cremated human remains. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Deceptive: means tending or having power to impose a false idea or belief or causing one to believe an untruth. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Dishonest conduct: means a standard of personal behavior by a funeral director, or embalmer, or both, characterized by a willful distortion of the truth in an attempt to deceive, cheat or defraud. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Disposition: means the shipment, interment, burial, cremation, or anatomical donation of a dead human body or parts of a dead human body. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Embalmer: means a person who disinfects or preserves, or both, a dead human body or bodies, entirely or in part, by the use of chemical substances, fluids, or gases ordinarily used, prepared, or intended for such purposes, either by outward application of such chemical substances, fluids, or gases on the body, or by the introduction of same into the body by vascular or hypodermic injection, or by direct application into the organs or cavities. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Embalming: means preparing, disinfecting, and preserving, either hypodermically, arterially, or by any other recognized means, the body of a deceased person for burial, cremation, or other disposition. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Funeral: means the observances held for a dead person usually before burial or cremation. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Funeral directing: means the operation of a funeral home, or, by way of illustration and not limitation, any service whatsoever connected with the management of funerals, or the supervision of hearses or funeral cars, the purchase of caskets or other funeral merchandise, and retail sale and display thereof, the cleaning or dressing of dead human bodies for burial, and the performance or supervision of any service or act connected with the management of funerals from time of death until the body or bodies are delivered to the cemetery, crematory, or other agent for the purpose of disposition. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Funeral director: means a person to whom a valid license has been issued by the board to perform the duties of funeral directing. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Funeral establishment: means any place or premises duly licensed by the board and devoted to or used in the care and preparation for disposition of the body of a deceased person or maintained or held out to the public by advertising or otherwise as the office or place for the practice of funeral directing. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Funeral goods and services: means any one or more of the following goods or services:
(a) Goods which are sold or offered for sale directly to the public for use in connection with funeral services. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Gratuity: means an inducement given voluntarily or beyond obligation to gain business. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Human remains: means the body of a deceased person, or part of a body or limb in any stage of decomposition that has been removed from a living or dead person. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Inactive licensee: means an individual that holds a funeral director or embalmer and funeral director license issued by the board not practicing in any capacity in this state and who has not met the requirements of Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Incompetency: means the lack of skills or qualities necessary to perform the duties of funeral director, or embalmer, or both. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Intern: means a person who is duly registered as such with the board while in the employ of a funeral establishment and who is engaged in learning the practice of funeral directing, or the practice of embalming, or both as the case may be, under the supervision of a funeral director or funeral director and embalmer duly licensed by the board and available on the same premises for consultation. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Malpractice: as used in this Chapter , means a negligence from professional duty or a failure to exercise an acceptable degree of skill or learning as a funeral director, or embalmer, or both that results in injury, loss, or damage. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Misrepresentation: means the act of giving a false, or misleading representation with an intent to deceive. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- person: includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:10
- Preneed funeral contract: means any written agreement between a buyer and a funeral establishment in which a funeral establishment agrees, prior to the death of a named funeral recipient, to furnish funeral goods and services for the funeral recipient upon death, and the buyer, pursuant to that agreement, transfers or tenders funds, or assigns an insurance policy or annuity to the funeral establishment for the purpose of paying all or part of the cost of those funeral goods and services at the time they are actually provided. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Solicitation: means the act or practice of any licensee, or any agent, employee, or person acting on his behalf, approaching a person or a group of persons to make a request or plea, or to urge someone toward a particular cause as it may pertain to the care, custody, or disposition of a dead human body. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Untrustworthiness: means the quality or state of not being worthy of confidence. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
- Untruthful: means to be false, inaccurate, or dishonest. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:831
A. The board may refuse to grant, refuse to renew, suspend, or revoke any license, or impose a sanction or fine in keeping with the penalty provision of this Part for any licensee or registrant when he is found guilty of any of the following acts or omissions:
(1) Fraud or misrepresentation in obtaining or attempting to obtain any license by this board.
(2) Paying, giving or offering, directly or indirectly, orally or in writing, any money, credit, discount, gratuity or other thing of value to a third party as an inducement for the business of a prospective customer, provided that this prohibition shall not be construed to prohibit any of the following:
(a) The execution or servicing by the parties thereto of any funeral service contract or preneed funeral contract recognized by any provisions of Titles 22 and 37 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950.
(b) A licensee’s providing promotional pricing that is disclosed on its general price list, including the dollar amount or method of determining the dollar amount of any discount, directly to a consumer.
(c) A licensee’s providing discounted or free funeral goods and services for infants or a member of an indigent family.
(3)(a) Solicitation which is intimidating, overreaching, fraudulent, or misleading, that uses undue influence, or that takes advantage of a person‘s lack of knowledge or emotional vulnerability, or engaging in any of the following:
(i) At-need solicitation of sales of funeral goods and services or funeral or disposition arrangements.
(ii) Soliciting, accepting, or paying consideration for recommending a provider of funeral goods and services or disposition arrangements or using the services of cappers, steerers, or runners.
(iii) Contacting persons receiving care in hospitals, rest homes, nursing homes, hospices, or similar institutions for the purpose of soliciting preneed funeral contracts or the sale of funeral goods and services or making funeral or disposition arrangements without first having been specifically requested by that person.
(iv) Contacting a person suffering ill health or the relatives, caregivers, acquaintances, healthcare providers, or persons having the right to control the disposition of the remains of an individual whose death is impending or whose death has recently occurred for the purposes of soliciting preneed funeral contracts or the sale of funeral goods and services or making funeral or disposition arrangements for that individual without first having been specifically requested by that person seeking information about funeral goods or services.
(b) This Paragraph shall not apply to communications between persons related by blood, adoption, or marriage.
(c) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to restrict the rights of a person to advertise or use direct mail or other communications in a manner directed to members of groups, associations, organizations, or the general public, or to contact persons responding to such communications or who initiate discussion of the funeral goods and services being offered.
(4) Malpractice.
(5) Unprofessional, unethical or dishonest conduct.
(6) Incompetency or untrustworthiness in the practice of embalming, funeral directing, or cremation.
(7) Failure or refusal to properly provide or guard against contagious or infectious or communicable diseases, or the spreading thereof.
(8) Immorality or addiction to the liquor or drug habit to such a degree as to render him unfit to practice embalming and/or funeral directing.
(9) Conviction of any felony or of any offense involving moral turpitude.
(10) Use, in advertising or in the sale of merchandise or services, untruthful, deceptive, unethical, misleading or improbable statements, or any practice, offer or inducement prohibited by any provisions of this Section.
(11)(a) Knowingly employing any unlicensed person or inactive licensee to perform the work of actual embalming or funeral directing, except that a registered intern may perform the work of actual embalming or funeral directing, as long as he is under the supervision of a licensed embalmer or funeral director who is available on the same premises for consultation.
(b) Knowingly employing any unlicensed person to engage in the practice of cremation or to operate a cremation retort.
(12) Recommending to the board an applicant for a license who has not, to his personal knowledge, complied with the requirements of this Chapter or with the rules and regulations of said board.
(13) Refusing to surrender a dead human body or cremated human remains upon the request of the person entitled to the custody and control of the body or cremated human remains.
(14) Violation of any law of this state relating to the embalming, burial, cremation, or disposal of dead human bodies or cremated human remains, or any of the provisions of this Chapter, or of the rules and regulations of the Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors or the applicable rules and regulations of the Louisiana Department of Health, the Department of Environmental Quality, or any other federal, state, or local governmental entity; or promoting, participating in, operating or servicing, directly or indirectly, any burial insurance association or society, or issuing, giving, selling, or distributing any contract, certificate, or coupon, granting or promising to the holder, his representatives or assigns, any burial benefits, or credit thereon, unless such association, society, contract, certificate, or coupon is authorized and approved by Louisiana law.
(15) Embalming bodies or practicing funeral directing for anyone in the State of Louisiana not licensed as a funeral establishment under the laws of this state.
(16) Cremating human remains by any person or entity in the state of Louisiana not licensed as a crematory authority, or practicing cremation in any facility not licensed as a crematory, in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter.
(17) If informed by the authorizing agent on a cremation authorization form of the presence of a pacemaker in human remains, failing to take all necessary steps to remove the pacemaker before delivering the human remains to the crematory.
(18) Performing the cremation of human remains without having received proper authorization to cremate in accordance with the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 37:877.
(19) Violating any cremation procedures as set forth in La. Rev. Stat. 37:879 or the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 37:880(C) and (D), relative to the disposition of cremated human remains.
(20) Knowingly and falsely certifying training or attempting through subterfuge to bypass the requirements for continuing education.
B. Petition, in affidavit form only, for revocation or suspension of a license or registration certificate may be filed by any person with the board. It shall state the charges with reasonable definiteness. Notice of not less than fifteen days will be given licensee and a hearing set. Complainant and licensee may have benefit of counsel, and shall have the right to offer evidence and cross-examine witnesses. Strict rules of evidence need not be complied with, but no evidence shall be received unless given by witnesses present. Upon due hearing, board may enter its findings of record. Appeal from any board decision or order shall be filed in a court of competent jurisdiction within fifteen days from board’s decision, otherwise board’s findings will be final.
Amended by Acts 1963, No. 12, §1; Acts 1966, No. 19, §1, eff. June 15, 1966, at 10:30 A.M.; Acts 1974, No. 3, §3; Acts 1977, No. 684, §4; Acts 2003, No. 1243, §2; Acts 2010, No. 373, §1; Acts 2012, No. 176, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2013; Acts 2014, No. 264, §1; Acts 2018, No. 206, §3.