Guidelines for Handling Decedents Contaminated with Radioactive Materials

Detonation of a nuclear weapon or activation of a radiological dispersal device could cause radioactively contaminated decedents. These guidelines are designed to address both of these scenarios. They could also be applicable in other instances where decedents’ bodies are contaminated with radioactive material (e.g. reactor accidents, transportation accidents involving radioactive material, or the discharge of a decedent from a hospital after injection or implantation of a radiopharmaceutical).

These guidelines suggest ways for medical examiners, coroners, and morticians to deal with loose surface contamination, internal contamination, or shrapnel on or in decedents’ bodies.