UNIFORM ANATOMICAL GIFT ACT - REPEALED — 1969 Pa. Act 161 (historical enacted text)

Historical Act text

SENATF REPRINT
PBIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 2. 1302 i Printer's NO. 2142
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
Session of
1969
INTRODUCED BY MESSES, BEBUS, GROSS, GELFAND, HARTINO, SAVITT,
KAUFHAI, ZORD, HOLHAI, O'PAKE, ECKEBSBERGER, HEPFORD,
McCURDY, KISTLER AND DAGER, JANUARY 8, 1969
SENATOR'DENGLER, PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE, 11 SENATE,
AS AMENDED, OCTOBER 7, 1969
AN ACT
Authorizing the'gift
of all or part of a human body after death
for specified purposes.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Section
1. Definitions
Section
2. Persons Who Hay Execute an Anatomical Gift
Section 3. Persons Who May Become Donees; Purposes for
Which Anatomical Gifts Hay Be Made
Section 4. Manner of Executing Anatomical Gifts
Section 5. Delivery of Document of Gift
Section
6, Amendment or Revocation of the Gift
Section 7. Rights and Duties at Death
Section 8. Uniformity
of Interpretation
Section
9. Short Title
Section
10. Repeal
Section
11. Effective Date
The General Assembly of the ~ommohwealth of Pennsylvania
.
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Definitions.--As used in this act:
19 (a) "Bank or storage facilityn means a facility licensed,
20 accredited, or approved under the laws of any state for storage
21 of human bodies or parts thereof.
2 2 (b) nDecedentn means a deceased individual and includes a
23 stillborn infant or fetus.

(c) "Donorqw means an individual who makes a gift of all or
part
of his body.
(d)
nHospitalw means a hospital licensed, accredited, or
approved under the
laws of any state; includes a hospital
operated by the United States Government, a state, or
a
subdivision thereof, although not required to be licensed under
state laws.
(e)
#*Partm means organs, tissues, eyes, bones, arteries,
blood, other fluids and any other portions of a human body.
(f)
**Person'* means an individual, corporation, government or
governmental subdivision or agency, business trust,
estate,
trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity.
(g)
*tPhysiciann* or "surgeon" means a physician or surgeon
licensed or authorized to practice under the
laws of any state.
(h) "Statew includes any state, district, commonwealth,
territory, insular possession, and any other
area subject to the
legislative authority of the
~niked States of America.
(i)
"Board*' means the Anatomical Board of the State of
Pennsylvania created by the
act of June 13, 1883 (P. L. 119),
entitled "An act for the promotion of medical science by the
distribution and use of unclaimed human bodies for scientific
purposes through
a board created for that purpose and to prevent
unauthorized uses and traffic in human
bodies."
Section 2. Persons Who Hay Execute an Anatomical Gift.--(a)
(
Any individual of sound mind and twenty-one years of age or more
may give all or any part of his body for any purpose specified
in section
3, the gift to take effect upon death. A GIFT OP THE <--
WHOLE BODY SHALL BE INVALID UNLESS MADE IN WRITING AT LEAST
FIFTEEN DAYS
PRIOR TO THE DATE OF DEATH.
(b) Any of the following persons, in order of priority
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stated, when persons in prior classes are not available at the
time of death, and in the absence of actual notice of contrary
indications by the decedent or actual notice of opposition by
a
member of the same or a prior class, may give all or any part of
the decedent's body for any purpose specified in section
3:
(1) the spouse,
(2) an adult son or daughter,
(3) either parent,
(4) an adult brother or sister,
(5) a guardian of the person of the decedent at the time of
his death,
(6) any other person authorized or under obligation to
dispose of the body.
(c)
If the donee has actual notice of contrary indications
by the decedent or that
a gift by a member of a class is opposed
by
a member of the same or a prior class, the donee shall not
accept the gift. The persons authorized by subsection (b) may
make the gift after or immediately before death.
(d)
A gift of all or part of a body authorizes any
examination necessary to assure medical acceptability of the
gift for the purposes intended-
(e) The rights of the donee created by the gift are
paramount to the rights of others except as provided by section
7 (dl -
Section 3. Persons Who May Become Donees; Purposes for Which
Anatomical Gifts
Bay Be made.--The following persons may become
donees of gifts of bodies or parts thereof for the purposes
stated:
(1) any hospital, surgeon, or physician, for medical or
dental education, research, advancement of medical or dental
-3-

1 science, therapy, or transplantation; or
2 (2) any accredited medical or dental school, college or
3 university for education, research, advancement of medical or
4 dental science, or therapy; or
5 (3) any bank or storage facility, for medical or dental
6 education, research, advancement of medical or dental science,
7 therapy, or transplantation; or
8 (4) any specified individual for therapy or transplantation
9 needed by him; or
10
(5) the board.
11 Section 4, Hanner of Executing Anatomical Gifts,--(a)
A gift
12
of all or part of the body under section
2(a) of this act may be
13 made by
will, The gift becomes effective upon the death of the
14 testator without waiting for probate, If the
will is not
15 probated, or
if it is declared invalid for testamentary
16 purposes, the gift, to the extent that
it has been acted upon in
17 good faith,
is nevertheless valid and effective.
18 (b)
A gift of all or part of the body under section 2(a) may
19 also be made by document other than
a will- The gift becomes
20 effective upon the death of the donor, The document, which may
21 be a card designed to be carried on the person, must be signed
22 by the donor in the presence of two witnesses who must sign the
23 document in his presence. If the donor IS
HENTALLY <--
24 COMPETENT TO SIGNIFY HIS DESIRE TO SIGN THE DOCUHENT BUT IS
25 PHYSICALLY
UNABLE TO DO SO, the document may be signed for him
26 BY ANOTHER at his direction and in his presence in the presence <--
27 of two witnesses who must sign the document in his presence,
28 Delivery of the document of gift during the
donor's lifetime is
29 not necessary to make the gift valid,
30
(c)
The gift may be made to
a specified donee or without
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specifying a donee, If the latter, the gift may be accepted by
the attending physician
as donee upon or folloving death, If the
gift
is made to a specified donee who is not available at the
time and place of death, the attending physician upon or
folloving death, in the absence of any expressed indication that
the donor desired othervise, may accept the gift
as donee, The
physician who becomes
a donee under this subsection shall not
participate in the procedures for removing or transplanting
a
part,
(d) Notvithstanding section
7 (b) , the donor may designate in
his vill, card, or other document of gift the surgeon or
physician to carry out the appropriate procedures, In the
absence of
a designation or if the designee is not available,
the donee or
other person authorized to accept the gift may
employ or authorize any surgeon or physician for the purpose,
(e) Any gift by a person designated in section
2 (b) shall be
made by a document signed by him or made by his telegraphic,
recorded telephonic, or other recorded message,
Section
5, Delivery of Document of Gift.--If the gift is
made by the donor to a specified donee, the will, card, or other
document, or an executed copy thereof, may be delivered to the
donee to expedite the appropriate procedures immediately after
death, Delivery
is not necessary to the validity of the gift.
The
will, card, or other document, or an executed copy thereof,
may be deposited in any hospital, bank or storage facility or
registry office that accepts
it for safekeeping or for
facilitation of procedures
zfter death, On request of any
interested party upon or after the
donor's death the person in
possession shall produce the document for examination,
Section
6, Amendment or Revocation of the Gift,--(a) If the
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will, card, or other document or executed copy thereof, has been
delivered to
a specified donee, the donor may amend or revoke
the gift by:
(1) the execution and delivery to the donee of a signed
statement, or
(2) an oral statement made in the presence of two persons
and communicated to the donee,
or
(3) a statement during a terminal illness or injury
addressed to an attending physician and communicated to the
donee, or
(4) a signed card or document found on his person or in his
effects,
(b) Any document of gift which has not been delivered to the
donee may be
revoked by the donor in the manner set out in
subsection (a), or by destruction, cancellation, or mutilation
of the document and
all executed copies thereof.
(c) Any gift made by a will may also be amended or revoked
in the manner provided
for amendment or revocation of wills, or
as provided in subsection (a) .
Section 7. Rights and Duties at Death,--(a) The donee may
accept or
reject the gift. If the donee accepts a gift of the
entire body, he SHALL subject to the
terms of the gift, <--
authorize embalming and the use of the body in funeral services
if the surviving spouse or next of kin as determined in section
2(b) requests embalming and use of the body for funeral
services. If the gift
is of a part of the body, the donee, upon
the death of the donor and prior to embalming, shall cause the
part to be removed without unnecessary mutilation. After removal
of the part, custody of the remainder of the body vests in the
surviving spouse, next of kin, or other persons under obligation

to dispose of the body.
(b) The
time of death shall be determined by a physician who
tends the donor
at his death, or, if none, the physician who
certifies the death, The physician who certifies death or any o£
his professional partners or associates shall not participate in
the procedures for removing or transplanting
a part.
(c)
A person who acts in good faith in accord with the terms
of this act or with the anatomical gift laws of another state or
a foreign country is not liable for damages in any civil action
or subject to prosecution in any criminal proceeding for his
act.
(d) The provisions of this
act are subject to the laws of
this State prescribing powers and duties with respect to
autopsies.
Section
8. Uniformity of Interpretation.--This act shall be
so construed
as to effectuate its general purpose to make
uniform the law of those
states dhich enact it.
Section 9. Short Title.--This act shall be known and may be
cited as the
"Unifo.rm Anatomical Gift Act."
Section 1.0. Repeal.--The act of November 30, 1959 (P. I..
1617). entitled "An act providing for the carrying out of the
directions of any person with respect to the disposition of any
part of his remains to an eye bank or body part bank,"
is hereby
repealed,
All other acts or parts of acts are repealed in so far
as they are inconsistent herewith.
Section
11. Effective Date.--This act shall take effect
January
1, 1970.