Section 291-A:6 Required Request; Search and Notification.
I. [Repealed.]
II. If, at or near the time of death of a patient, there is no medical record that the patient has made or refused to make an anatomical gift, a person designated by the hospital, which may include a procurement organization representative, shall, unless the attending physician determines otherwise, discuss the option to make or refuse to make an anatomical gift and request the making of an anatomical gift pursuant to RSA 291-A:4, I. The request shall be made with reasonable discretion and sensitivity to the circumstances of the family. A request is not required if the gift is not suitable, based upon accepted medical standards, for a purpose specified in RSA 291-A:7. An entry shall be made in the medical record of the patient, stating the name and affiliation of the individual making the request, and of the name, response, and relationship to the patient of the person to whom the request was made. The commissioner of health and human services, in consultation with procurement organizations, and the New Hampshire Hospital Association, shall adopt rules, under RSA 541-A, to implement this paragraph.
III. The following persons shall make a reasonable search for a document of gift or other information identifying the bearer as a donor or as an individual who has refused to make an anatomical gift:
(a) A law enforcement officer, firefighter, paramedic, or other emergency rescuer finding an individual who the searcher believes is dead or near death; and
(b) A hospital, upon the admission of an individual at or near the time of death, if there is not immediately available any other source of that information.
IV. If a document of gift or evidence of refusal to make an anatomical gift is located by the search required by subparagraph III(a), and the individual or body to whom it relates is taken to a hospital, the hospital shall be notified of the contents and the document or other evidence shall be sent to the hospital.
V. If, at or near the time of death of a patient, a hospital knows that an anatomical gift has been made pursuant to RSA 291-A:4, I, or a release and removal of a part has been permitted pursuant to RSA 291-A:5, or that a patient or an individual identified as in transit to the hospital is a donor, the hospital shall notify the donee if one is named and known to the hospital; if not, it shall notify an appropriate procurement organization. The hospital shall cooperate in the implementation of the anatomical gift or release and removal of a part.
VI. A person who fails to discharge the duties imposed by this section is not subject to criminal or civil liability but is subject to appropriate administrative sanctions.
Source. 1997, 336:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1998. 2006, 216:8, 10, eff. July 31, 2006.