Professional Conduct, Ethics, Discipline, and Sanctions
Ethics questions on this exam are usually fact patterns about authorization, money, and candor.
Core duties
- Act only on valid authorization from the person with the right of disposition, and document each consent.
- Inventory personal effects and valuables at pickup, record them, and return them against signature.
- Keep client information confidential except where law requires disclosure.
- Never certify a fact you did not observe, and never backdate or alter a record.
- Avoid conflicts of interest: no undisclosed commissions, and no per-case payments to hospital or nursing-home staff for referrals. Fee-splitting with non-licensees is a discipline magnet.
- No solicitation at the scene of a death or in a hospital; no uninvited door-knocking after a death.
Discipline
Sanctions run from reprimand and civil penalty through probation, suspension, and revocation, sometimes with conditions such as supervision, continuing education, or a practice monitor. Discipline is reportable and follows the licensee across employers; a revoked licensee must petition for reinstatement and prove fitness. Unlicensed practice is separately actionable, and an establishment can be sanctioned for allowing it.
Worked example. A funeral director receives $200 per referral from a hospice aide. Even if families were satisfied, undisclosed inducements to referral sources violate the Board's conduct rules and can constitute an unconscionable practice under the Consumer Fraud Act.
Traps that cost marks: assuming "the family agreed" cures missing written authorization; overlooking that personal-effects disputes are among the most common complaints; forgetting the duty to report arrests or out-of-state discipline.