APPLICATION OF INDIANA’S HOUSE BILL 1190
TREATMENT OF MISCARRIED REMAINS
Prior to the passage of Indiana House Bill 1190 – Treatment of Miscarried Remains, hospitals, birthing centers, and medical facilities, were not required, when a miscarriage occurred before twenty–weeks gestation, to inform parents about their right to choose the final disposition of their baby’s fetal remain.
Legally, these facilities could discard the fetal remains of a miscarried baby, less than twenty-weeks gestations as products of conception. Products of conception could be disposed of as medical, as bio hazardous waste, or in a common burial or cremation. It was not uncommon for a grieving parent(s) to never know what actually happened to her miscarried baby’s fetal remains.
Since the 2014 passage of HB 1190, all Indiana hospitals, birthing centers and medical facilities are required to inform parent(s) within twenty-four hours of a miscarriage REGARDLESS OF THE UNBORN BABY’S GESTATIONAL AGE their right to choose the final disposition of their baby’s fetal remains. Parents should expect:
1. To be notified both orally and in writing, about their right to determine the final disposition of their miscarried baby’s fetal remains.
2. To be provided with written information concerning the available options for the disposition of their baby’s fetal remains.
3. To be informed of counseling that may be available concerning the death of their miscarried baby.
4. Parents will be expected to inform the hospital, birthing center, or health care facility about their choice and required to complete the necessary information concerning final disposition before the mother can be discharged.
5. The hospital, birthing center, or health care facility shall document the parent(s) decision in the medical record.
According to the law, parents must be informed about their right to provide a respectful and individual burial for their unborn baby. Parent(s) who choose to provide an individual burial for their unborn baby are responsible for all burial cost. Otherwise, the hospital, birthing center, or medical facility with dispose of the baby’s fetal remains without the parent(s) incurring any additional cost.
