Iowa § 142.1 - 142.1 Delivery of bodies.

§ 142.1. 142.1 Delivery of bodies.

The body of every person who died in a public asylum, hospital, penitentiary, or reformatory in this state, or found dead within the state, or who is to be buried at public expense in this state, except those buried under the provisions of chapter 144C or 249, and which is suitable for scientific purposes, shall be delivered to the medical college of the state university, or some osteopathic or chiropractic college or school located in this state, which has been approved under the law regulating the practice of osteopathic medicine or chiropractic; but no such body shall be delivered to any such college or school if the deceased person expressed a desire during the person’s last illness that the person’s body should be buried or cremated, nor if such is the desire of the person’s relatives. Such bodies shall be equitably distributed among said colleges and schools according to their needs for teaching anatomy in accordance with such rules as may be adopted by the department of health and human services. The expense of transporting said bodies to such college or school shall be paid by the college or school receiving the same. If the deceased person has not expressed a desire during the person’s last illness that the person’s body should be buried or cremated and no person authorized to control the deceased person’s remains under section 144C.5 requests the person’s body for burial or cremation, and if a friend objects to the use of the deceased person’s body for scientific purposes, said deceased person’s body shall be delivered to such friend for burial or cremation at no expense to the state or county. Unless such friend provides for burial and burial expenses within five days, the body shall be used for scientific purposes under this chapter. [C73, §4018; C97, §4946; S13, §4946-b; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2351; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §142.1] 2008 Acts, ch 1051, §1, 22; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §41; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §229; 2024 Acts, ch 1161, §29, 137 Referred to in §142.2, 142.3, 156.2, 252.27 Approval of medical, osteopathic, and chiropractic colleges, see §148.3, 151.4 2024 amendment effective July 1, 2025; 2024 Acts, ch 1161, §137 Section amended Wed Dec 10 22:56:27 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Section 142.1 (22, 3)