Section 4-509 - When organ or tissue may be provided for transplant.
§ 4-509. When organ or tissue may be provided for transplant.
(a) Requirements.- The Chief Medical Examiner, the deputy chief medical examiner, or an assistant medical examiner may provide an organ or tissue upon the request of the federally designated organ procurement organization or tissue bank under the following conditions:
(1) The medical examiner has charge of a decedent who may provide a suitable organ or tissue for transplant;
(2) A reasonable, unsuccessful search has been made by the treating physician and the hospital where the patient is located to contact the next of kin;
(3) No objection by the next of kin is known by the medical examiner; and
(4) The organ or tissue for transplant will not interfere with the subsequent course of an investigation or autopsy.
(b) Immunity from liability.-
(1) The Chief Medical Examiner, the deputy chief medical examiner, an assistant chief medical examiner, the organ procurement organization, and the tissue bank are not liable for civil action if the next of kin is located subsequently and contends that authorization of that kin was required, if the Chief Medical Examiner has obtained a written or verbal statement from the treating physician, organ procurement organization, tissue bank, or hospital where the decedent was located that a reasonable unsuccessful search was conducted for the next of kin prior to the removal of the organ or tissue for transplantation.
(2) A verbal statement under paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be documented in the decedent's medical record.
[An. Code 1957, art. 43, § 147A; 1974, ch. 11, § 2; 1982, ch. 770, § 4; 1987, ch. 11, § 1; 1998, chs. 1, 2.]