The Burial of Stillborn Children in the Light of Parents’ Rights and the Tasks of the Commune

Abstract

Legal regulations concerning stillborn children are spread among different legal acts. Diverse regulations of their status under medical and administrative law raise the question of the obligation to organize burials for a fetus found to be dead before the end of the 22nd week of pregnancy. The purpose of the article is an analysis of the legal solutions concerning the burial of stillborn children and the settlement of collisions between acts of different areas of law that regulate this issue. The study addresses the problem of the lack of uniform procedures in treating the corpses of stillborn children, which might lead to criminal responsibility for not honouring the corpses by classifying them as medical waste. The conclusions emphasize the need to sort out the regulations, and refrain from arbitrary practices that violate parents’ rights, including the right to privacy and mourning. Depriving parents of their right to funeral benefit in cases of the inability to determine the sex of a child was critically assessed. The role of the district in organizing a burial was positively evaluated.