Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Chapter 113 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 5 the following section:-

Section 5A. A health care professional authorized to remove an anatomical gift from a donor whose death is under investigation shall remove the donated part from the donor's body for the acceptance by a person authorized to become a donee, after giving notice to the chief medical examiner or district attorney, or his designees subject to the requirements of this section. The chief medical examiner and district attorney, or their respective designees, shall approve or deny removal of the anatomical gift within the time provided by law to ensure the preservation of the anatomical gift for transplantation; provided, however, that a health care professional authorized to remove an anatomical gift shall be present at such approval or denial. The chief medical examiner or district attorney, or his designee, shall be present during the removal of the anatomical gift if in his judgment such attendance would, in the opinion of the chief medical examiner or district attorney, or his designee, facilitate a donation that would otherwise be denied. In that case, the chief medical examiner or district attorney or his designee, may request a biopsy or deny removal of the anatomical gift and will explain in writing his reasons for determining that those tissues or organs may be involved in the cause of death.