Part 10.
TEXAS FUNERAL SERVICE COMMISSION
Chapter 203.
LICENSING AND ENFORCEMENT--SPECIFIC SUBSTANTIVE RULES
22 TAC §203.16
The Texas Funeral Service Commission (Commission) proposes
an amendment to Title 22, Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 203, §203.16,
concerning Minimum Standards for Embalming.
The amendment to §203.16 is proposed because existing §203.16
does not have information prescribing the minimum information that should
be contained on embalming case reports.
O.C. "Chet" Robbins, Executive Director, has determined that for the first
five-year period the rule amendment is in effect, there will be no fiscal
implication for the state or local governments as a result of enforcing or
administering the proposed rules.
Mr. Robbins further has determined that for each of the first five-year
period the amended rule is in effect, the public benefit anticipated as a
result of enforcing §203.16 will be to ensure uniformity on embalming
case reports in order determine whether or not minimum standards have been
followed for each embalming case. There will be no effect on large, small
or micro-businesses. The anticipated economic costs to persons who are required
to comply with these sections will be no more or less than the costs to individuals
under §203.16 before this amendment and there is no impact on local employment.
Comments on the proposal may be submitted to Mr. Robbins at P.O. Box 12217,
Capitol Station, Austin, Texas 78711-1440, 512-479-5064 (fax), or electronically
to chet.robbins@tfsc.state.tx.us.
The amendment to §203.16 is proposed under Texas Occupations
Code, §651.152. The commission interprets §651.152 as authorizing
it to adopt rules as necessary to administer Chapter 651.
No other statutes, articles, or codes are affected by the proposal.
§203.16.Minimum Standards for Embalming and Reporting Embalming Procedures .
(a)
In order to ensure the maximum inhibition of pathogenic
organisms in the dead human body, the following minimum standards of performance
shall be required of each licensed embalmer in the State of Texas in each
instance in which he or she is authorized or required to embalm a dead human
body.
(1)
Embalming shall be performed only by embalmers licensed
by the commission, in properly equipped and licensed establishments, or in
the event of a disaster of major proportions, in facilities designated by
a medical examiner, coroner, or state health official. Only three types of
people may under certain circumstances assist licensed embalmers in embalming:
provisional licensed embalmers under the personal supervision of a licensed
embalmer; students who are enrolled in an accredited school of mortuary science
working on a case intended toward completion of the student's clinical requirements,
under the personal supervision of a licensed embalmer and with written permission
to assist the embalmer from the person responsible for making arrangements
or next of kin; and, in the event of a disaster of major proportions and with
the prior approval of the executive director of the commission, embalmers
licensed in another state as long as they are working with or under the general
supervision of a person licensed as an embalmer in this state. It is not the
intent of this rule to supersede §203.22 of this title (relating to Required
Documentation for Embalming) which authorizes embalming using mortuary students.
(2)
In order to prevent those involved in the embalming procedure
from becoming unwitting carriers of pathogenic organisms into the community,
they shall be required to utilize such protective devices as gloves capable
of being sterilized, aprons or operating gowns during the embalming procedure.
Disposable garments and/or gloves shall be permitted.
(3)
Clothing directly exposed to contamination by pathogenic
organisms shall either be burned or thoroughly cleaned and disinfected with
a solution having phenol coefficient of not less than one before delivery
to any person or before any further utilization.
(4)
The technique utilized to effect eye, mouth, and lip closure
shall be any technique accepted as standard in the profession. Regardless
of the technique chosen, the embalmer shall be required to achieve the best
results possible under prevailing conditions.
(5)
The entire body shall be washed with an antiseptic soap
or detergent. Fingernails, hair (including mustache and beard) shall be thoroughly
cleaned, either before or immediately after arterial injection.
(6)
Body orifices (open lesions and surgical incisions, nostrils,
mouth, anus, and vagina) shall be treated with appropriate topical disinfectants
either before or immediately after arterial injection. After cavity treatment
has been completed, body orifices shall be packed in cotton saturated with
a suitable disinfectant of a phenol coefficient not less than one.
(7)
The arterial fluid to be injected shall be one commercially
prepared and marketed with its percent of formaldehyde, or other approved
substance, by volume (index) clearly marked on the label or in printed material
supplied by the manufacturer.
(8)
The fluids selected shall be injected into all bodies
in such dilutions and at such pressures as the professional experience of
the embalmer shall indicate, except that in no instance shall dilute solution
contain less than 1.0% formaldehyde, or an approved substance that acts the
same as formaldehyde, and as the professional experience of the embalmer indicates,
one gallon of dilute solution may be used for each 50 pounds of body weight.
Computation of solution strength is as follows: C x V = C' x V' C = strength
of concentrated fluid V = volume of ounces of concentrated fluid C' = strength
of dilute fluid V' = volume of ounces of dilute fluid
(9)
Abdominal and thoracic cavities shall be treated in the
following manner.
(A)
Liquid, semi-solid, and gaseous contents which can be
withdrawn through a trocar shall be aspirated by the use of at least 18 inches
(mercury) vacuum.
(B)
Concentrated, commercially prepared cavity fluid which
is acidic in nature (6.5pH or lower) and contains at least two preservative
chemicals shall be injected and evenly distributed throughout the aspirated
cavities. A minimum of 16 ounces of concentrated cavity fluid shall be used
for each adult body.
(C)
Should distension and/or purge occur after treatment,
aspiration and injection as required shall be repeated as necessary.
(10)
The embalmer shall be required to check each body thoroughly
after treatment has been completed. Any area not adequately disinfected by
arterial and/or cavity treatment shall be injected using a hypodermic needle
with disinfectant fluid for maximum disinfecting results.
(11)
On bodies in which the arterial circulation is incomplete
or impaired by advance decomposition, burns, trauma, autopsy, or any other
cause, the embalmer shall be required to use the hypodermic method to inject
all areas which cannot be properly treated through whatever arterial circulation
remains intact (in any).
(12)
In the event that the procedures in paragraphs (1)-(11)
of this subsection leave a dead human body in condition to constitute a high
risk of infection to anyone handling the body, the embalmer shall be required
to apply to the exterior of the body a standard embalming powder and to enclose
the body in a zippered plastic or rubber pouch prior to burial or other disposal.
(13)
Dead human bodies donated to the State Anatomical Board
shall be embalmed as required by the State Anatomical Board and where conflicting
requirements exist, those requirements of the State Anatomical Board shall
prevail.
(14)
Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to require
embalming if the next-of kin does not authorize embalming.
(15)
All bodies should be treated in such manner and maintained
in such an atmosphere as to avoid infestation by vermin, maggots, ants, and
other insects; however, should these conditions occur, the body should be
treated with an effective vermicide and/or insecticide to eliminate these
conditions.
(16)
No licensed establishment or licensed embalmer shall
take into its or the embalmer's care any dead human body for embalming without
exerting every professional effort, and employing every possible technique
or chemical, to achieve the highest level of disinfecting.
(17)
Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to prohibit
the use of supplemental or additional procedures or chemicals which are known
to and accepted in the funeral service profession and which are not specifically
mentioned in this subsection.
(b)
Minor variations in these procedures shall be permitted
as long as they do not compromise the purpose of this rule as stated in subsection
(a) of this section.
[(c)
A report form, approved by the Texas
Funeral Service Commission, shall be completed on each case of embalming.
The completed form shall be retained for a two-year period and be made available
to the Texas Funeral Service Commission, upon request, for inspection.]
(c)
All embalming case reports must contain,
at a minimum, all the information on the case-report form published following
this subsection. This form is also on file in the commission’s offices
and may be accessed from the commission’s website at www.tfsc.state.tx.us.
Staff will make a copy of this form available upon request. Funeral establishments
may use other forms, so long as the forms contain all the information on the
published form. A case report shall be completed for each embalming procedure.
The completed form shall be retained for two years following the procedure
date and made available to the commission, upon request.
Figure: 22 TAC §203.16 (.pdf)
This agency hereby certifies that the proposal has been reviewed
by legal counsel and found to be within the agency's legal authority to adopt.
Filed with the Office of
the Secretary of State on January 13, 2006.
TRD-200600220
O.C. Robbins
Executive Director
Texas Funeral Service Commission
Earliest possible date of adoption: February 26, 2006
For further information, please call: (512) 936-2466