Title 23, Health and Safety

The dead body of a human being may be dissected: 1. When the death occurs under circumstances in which a coroner is authorized by law to hold an inquest upon the body, and a coroner authorizes such dissection for the purposes of the inquest; 2. If the spouse, or one of the next o…

Any medical association, licensed physician and surgeon, or medical school, upon request, may receive and remove free of charge the bodies of the following deceased persons, if such bodies are to be used within the state for the advancement of anatomical knowledge and medical sci…

If a person mentioned in section 23-06-14 has requested, during that person's last illness, that that person be buried, that person's body may not be surrendered for dissection but must be buried. If any friend, relative, or guardian of any such person requests, within thirty-six…

Every physician or surgeon and every medical school, before receiving any dead body, shall give to the officer surrendering the same a sufficient bond conditioned that the body shall be used only for the promotion of anatomical science and medical knowledge within this state and …

Any person who receives for dissection any dead body, in pursuance of the provisions of this chapter, shall decently bury the body in some public cemetery or shall cremate the same in a furnace properly constructed for that purpose after the dissection has been made.

Any person who receives a body for use under the provisions of section 23-06-14 and uses the same for any other purpose, or who removes the same beyond the limits of this state, or who buys or sells any such body, or traffics in the same, is guilty of a class B misdemeanor. It is…

All provisions of this chapter requiring the burial of a dead body or punishing interference with or injuries to a dead body apply equally to any dead limb or member of a human body, separated therefrom during lifetime.

No dead human body may be buried in this state except in a properly registered cemetery or in some other place requested by the relatives and friends of the deceased if the same is authorized by the department of health and human services and all rules and regulations promulgated…

All persons, corporations, municipalities, associations, and organizations owning, conducting, or maintaining a cemetery or plot for the burial of dead human bodies shall: 1. Provide for a sexton or secretary. 2. Cause the lot or parcel of ground used and designated as a cemetery…

Any entity owning, conducting, or maintaining a cemetery or plot for the burial of dead human bodies may use the procedures in this section to reinvest itself with the title to a portion of a cemetery which was conveyed by deed to a person but which has not been used for purposes…

The sexton or secretary appointed by the person, corporation, municipality, association, or organization conducting a cemetery for the burial of dead human bodies shall hold office until a successor is appointed and qualified. The sexton or secretary shall transfer all records to…

The department of health and human services shall make and enforce such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out the laws relating to the regulation of cemeteries and may, through injunction or other legal process, enforce compliance.

Every person who removes any part of the dead body of a human being from any grave or other place where the same has been buried, or from any place where the same is deposited while awaiting burial, except as provided by law, is guilty of a class C felony.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the county commissioners of each county may move graves or cremate the bodies in any graves which are located in the county and maintained by the county when the gravesites are in imminent danger of destruction by natural elem…

Whenever a cemetery or other place of burial is lawfully authorized to be removed from one place to another, the right and duty to disinter, remove, and rebury the remains of bodies there lying buried devolves upon the persons whose duty it is to bury the bodies, in the order in …

Every person who purchases or who receives, except for the purpose of final disposition, any dead body of a human being, knowing that the same has been removed contrary to the provisions of this chapter, is guilty of a class C felony.

1. As used in this section: a. "Burial goods" means any objects or items interred with human remains at the time of burial. b. "Disturb" means move, open, expose, dig up, disinter, excavate, remove, carry away, damage, injure, deface, desecrate, loot, vandalize, mutilate, or dest…

Every person who arrests or attaches any dead body of a human being upon any debt or demand whatever, or who detains or claims to detain it for any debt or demand or upon any pretended lien or charge, is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

Every person who violates any provision of this chapter relative to the dissection of dead bodies of human beings, or who makes or procures to be made any dissection of the body of a human being except by authority of law or in pursuance of permission given in accordance with the…

The board of county commissioners of each county may provide for the identification, cataloging, recording, and shall provide for the general maintenance and upkeep of each abandoned cemetery located within such county using revenues derived from its general fund levy authority. …

1. A legally competent adult may prepare a written statement directing the cremation or other lawful disposition of that adult's own remains pursuant to section 23-06-03. The written statement must be signed and dated by the legally competent adult and may be part of the legally …

The department of health and human services shall designate the diseases or conditions that must be reported. Such diseases or conditions may include contagious, infectious, sexually transmitted, or chronic diseases or any illness or injury which may have a significant impact on …

The department of health and human services shall define disorders characterized by lapses of consciousness, gross physical or mental impairments for the purposes of the reports hereinafter referred to: 1. A physician or other health care provider may report immediately to the de…

The department may adopt rules under chapter 28-32 for the efficient enforcement of this chapter.

Except as otherwise provided by section 23-07-02.1, the following persons or their designees shall report to the department of health and human services any reportable disease coming to their knowledge: 1. All health care providers, including physicians, physician assistants, nur…

Every attending physician treating an individual known by the physician to have a diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus infection, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or human immunodeficiency virus-related illness, including death from human immunodeficiency virus infection…

A report required by section 23-07-02.1 and held by the department of health and human services is confidential information. The information may not be disclosed, shared with any agency or institution, or made public, upon subpoena, search warrant, discovery proceedings, or other…

1. The state health officer may issue a temporary order for emergency reporting of disease conditions or information if the state health officer finds probable cause to believe there is a threat caused by an imminent or emerging condition affecting the public health, including ac…

The superintendent of a hospital, dispensary, or charitable or penal institution, in which there is a case of sexually transmitted disease, or the superintendent's designee, shall report such case to the nearest health officer having jurisdiction. The report must be made in the f…

At such time as may be required by the department of health and human services, each local health officer shall submit to such department, on blanks furnished by the department for that purpose, a summarized report of the reportable diseases reported to the health officer during …

Whenever a local board of health knows that a case of a contagious or infectious disease exists within its jurisdiction, the board immediately shall examine the facts of the case and may adopt such quarantine and sanitary measures as in its judgment tend to prevent the spread of …

1. The following individuals must be examined or tested for the presence of antibodies to or antigens of the human immunodeficiency virus: a. Every individual convicted of a crime who is imprisoned for fifteen days or more in a grade one or grade two jail, a regional correctional…

1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department of health and human services or any other agency shall release the results of any testing for any reportable disease performed on an individual convicted of a crime who is imprisoned if the request is made by any indiv…

Every person convicted of a crime who is imprisoned fifteen days or more in a state, county, or city prison must be examined for sexually transmitted disease and, if infected, must be treated therefor by the health officer within whose jurisdiction the person is imprisoned.

The prison authorities of any state, county, or city prison shall make available to the health officers such portion of the prison as may be necessary for a clinic or hospital wherein the following persons may be isolated and treated: 1. Persons who are imprisoned in the prison a…

All physicians, midwives, or other persons in professional attendance upon a birth always shall examine the eyes of the infant carefully. If there is the least reason to suspect the presence of a disease of the eyes, such person shall apply such prophylactic treatment as may be r…

If one or both eyes of an infant becomes inflamed, swollen, or reddened, or shows any unnatural discharge or secretion at any time within two weeks after birth, and if no legally qualified physician is in attendance upon the infant at that time, the parents of the child, or in th…

Upon receipt of a report as provided for in section 23-07-11, the health officer shall direct the parents or whoever has charge of the infant suffering from inflammation, swelling, redness, or unnatural secretion or discharge of the eyes, to place it immediately in charge of a le…

A statewide elected official or the state health officer may not mandate an individual in this state use a face mask, face shield, or other face covering. This section applies, notwithstanding authority granted under other provisions of law, including section 23-01-05 and chapter…

Each local board of health may provide such temporary hospital or place of reception for persons afflicted with any contagious or infectious disease as it judges best for their accommodation and the safety of the inhabitants. It may provide a means of transportation to such hospi…

Any local board of health may cause to be destroyed any bed, bedding, clothing, carpets, or other articles which have been exposed to infection from a contagious or infectious disease and may allow reasonable compensation for the same. The board also may provide a proper place wi…

1. Unless the person has a permit from the local board of health or department of health and human services, a person may not remove or cause to be removed from without this state into this state, from one building to another within this state, or from or to any railroad car or m…

Except as provided by section 23-07-16.1, no principal, superintendent, or teacher of any school, and no parent or guardian of any minor child, may permit any child having any significant contagious or infectious disease, or any child residing in any house in which any such disea…

Each school district shall adopt a policy governing the disposition of children attending school within the school district, employees of the school district, or independent contractors under contract with the school district who are diagnosed as having a significant contagious d…

1. A child may not be admitted to any public, private, or parochial school, or day care center, child care facility, head start program, or nursery school operating in this state or be supervised through home-based instruction unless the child's parent or guardian presents to the…

Each practicing physician in this state shall report to the local board of health within the jurisdiction of which the death occurred, in writing, the death of any of the physician's patients who has died of any contagious or infectious disease. The report must be made within twe…