Section 43-18-46. Grounds for denial or revocation of license or registration; other discipline

   In addition to the authority provided in Code Section 43-1-19, the board may refuse to grant a license to operate a funeral establishment or to practice embalming or funeral directing, may refuse to grant a registration to serve as an apprentice, or may revoke, suspend, fine, or otherwise discipline a licensee or registrant upon any of the following grounds:

   (1) The employment of fraud or deception in applying for a license or registration or in passing the examination provided for in this article;

   (2) Issuance of a license or registration through error;

   (3) Conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude;

   (4) The practice of embalming or funeral directing under a false name or the impersonation of another embalmer, funeral director, or apprentice of a like or different name;

   (5) The making of a false statement or representation regarding the qualifications, training, or experience of any applicant;

   (6) The making of a misrepresentation of any kind regarding any funeral merchandise;

   (7) Directly or indirectly, by gifts or otherwise, committing the offense of buying business or paying a commission or making gifts, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of securing business to any physician or hospital, or to any institution where death occurs, or to any hospital superintendent, nurse, intern, or employee of any hospital, nursing home, or other institution where death occurs; or to any coroner or other government official;

   (8) Gross or willful malpractice or gross neglect in the practice of embalming, funeral directing, or cremating;

   (9) Signing a death certificate as having embalmed or prepared a body for burial or preservation when in fact someone else performed such embalming or preparation;

   (10) Interfering, either directly or indirectly, with a licensed embalmer or funeral director having legal charge of a dead human body;

   (11) Using any statements that mislead or deceive the public including, but not limited to, false or misleading statements regarding a legal or cemetery requirement, funeral merchandise, funeral services, or in the operation of a funeral establishment;

   (12) Failing to fulfill the terms of a funeral service contract;

   (13) Disregarding a decedent's dignity, right to privacy, or right to confidentiality unless compelled by law to do otherwise;

   (14) Using profane, indecent, or obscene language in the presence of a dead human body, or within the immediate hearing of the family or relatives of a deceased, whose body has not yet been interred or otherwise disposed;

   (15) Failing to turn assigned benefits in excess of charges incurred over to the assignee of the deceased within ten working days of receipt of the assigned funds;

   (16) Refusing to surrender promptly the custody of a dead human body upon the express order of the person lawfully entitled to the custody;

   (17) Failing to have the charges rendered to be in compliance with those listed in the funeral establishment general price list, the casket price list, the outer burial container list, or the funeral service contract price list;

   (18) Aiding or abetting an unlicensed person to practice under this article;

   (19) Promoting or participating in a burial society, burial association, burial certificate plan, or burial membership plan;

   (20) Soliciting, as defined in paragraph (21) of Code Section 43-18-1;

   (21) Presenting a false certification of work done by an apprentice or as an apprentice;

   (22) Willfully violating any state law or regulation; Federal Trade Commission law or regulation; Occupational Safety and Health Administration law or regulation; Department of Public Health law or regulation; Environmental Protection Agency law or regulation; or municipal or county ordinance or regulation that affects the handling, custody, care, or transportation of dead human bodies, including, but not limited to, the disposal of equipment, residual fluids, or medical wastes;

   (23) Knowingly making any misleading, deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representation in the practice of funeral directing or embalming or in any document connected therewith;

   (24) Discriminating in the provision of services because of race, creed, color, religion, gender, or national origin;

   (25) Failing to safeguard all personal properties that were obtained from dead human remains and failing to dispose of same as directed by a legally authorized person;

   (26) Failing to refund moneys due as a result of overpayment by an insurance company or other third party;

   (27) Engaging in any unprofessional, immoral, unethical, deceptive, or deleterious conduct or practice harmful to the public, which conduct or practice materially affects the fitness of the licensee or registrant to practice in the funeral business, or is of a nature likely to jeopardize the interest of the general public, which conduct or practice need not have resulted in actual injury to any person or be directly related to the practice of funeral directing or embalming but shows that the person has committed any act or omission which is indicative of bad moral character or untrustworthiness; unprofessional conduct shall also include any departure from or failure to conform to the minimal reasonable standards of acceptable and prevailing practice of funeral services;

   (28) Engaging in any practice whereby a person who is both a funeral director and a coroner or who is both a funeral director and a minister presents that person as a funeral director to a legally authorized person when death is imminent or after death occurs prior to when the legally authorized person selects a funeral director or funeral establishment which will handle the dead human body;

   (29) Practicing embalming or funeral directing or operating a funeral establishment or crematory prior to the board's having approved an application for licensure; or

   (30) Failing to satisfy the funeral director in full and continuous charge requirements as set out in Code Section 43-18-71 or funeral establishment requirements as set out in Code Section 43-18-70.

Code 1981, § 43-18-46, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 1372, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 94, § 43; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 1-4/HB 228; Ga. L. 2011, p. 705, § 6-3/HB 214.