Provides for eye and tissue donation; requires coroners to develop a protocol for making referrals of deaths that fall under their jurisdiction and occur outside of a hospital including calling the federally designated organ procurement organization for donor registry verification and a donor suitability determination.
Summary
A06824 amends New York’s County Law to expand and formalize procedures for eye and tissue donation in cases handled by coroners and medical examiners. In addition to the existing duty to investigate deaths of incarcerated individuals, the bill adds a new requirement that coroners and medical examiners develop a referral protocol to quickly identify potential anatomical gift donors when a death under their jurisdiction occurs outside a hospital. The protocol must include promptly contacting the appropriate eye and tissue bank, including by phone and/or text, so procurement organizations can verify donor registry status and determine donor suitability.
The bill also requires that, when a decedent under coroner or medical examiner jurisdiction is determined to be a donor and the donation is medically suitable and properly consented to under the Public Health Law, the autopsy or related analysis be conducted in a way that preserves eyes, tissues, or organs for transplantation. The measure takes effect immediately and is intended to reduce missed donation opportunities in non-hospital deaths.
Impact
The bill changes County Law sections 671 and 674-a by imposing a new referral-protocol obligation on coroners and medical examiners and by directing them to coordinate with eye and tissue procurement organizations before performing autopsies in eligible donor cases. It affects county coroners, medical examiners, and procurement organizations, and it interacts with the Public Health Law’s anatomical gift and donor registry framework by requiring timely verification and suitability review. Practically, it is designed to preserve transplantable eyes and tissues in deaths outside hospitals without eliminating the authority to investigate deaths or perform autopsies.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have broad support and little visible opposition. It passed the Assembly Local Governments Committee unanimously, then the Assembly Rules Committee unanimously, and ultimately the Assembly floor by a wide margin with 141 yeas and no nays. The voting history suggests the measure was viewed as a straightforward public-interest reform aimed at improving organ, eye, and tissue donation coordination.
Contention
The main policy issue is balancing timely death investigation and autopsy duties against the need to preserve donation opportunities for transplantation. Any concern would likely come from coroners or medical examiners about added procedural requirements, timing constraints, or coordination burdens, while supporters would emphasize the public benefit of increasing recoverable donations and ensuring prompt referral to procurement organizations. The bill text and voting record do not show significant controversy, and the unanimous votes indicate that any such concerns were not strongly expressed in committee or on the floor.
Same As
Provides for eye and tissue donation; requires coroners to develop a protocol for making referrals of deaths that fall under their jurisdiction and occur outside of a hospital including calling the federally designated organ procurement organization for donor registry verification and a donor suitability determination.
Provides for eye and tissue donation; requires coroners to develop a protocol for making referrals of deaths that fall under their jurisdiction and occur outside of a hospital including calling the federally designated organ procurement organization for donor registry verification and a donor suitability determination.
Relates to the tax credit for organ and tissue donors; allows persons fourteen and fifteen years old to register to make an anatomical gift with parental notification; requires certain tax documents to include organ donation check box (Part A); directs the commissioner of education to make recommendations to the board of regents relating to the adoption in instruction in high schools of information relating to blood, bone marrow and organ and tissue donations (Part B); relates to education requirements for physicians and nurses relating to organ and tissue donation and recovery (Part C); relates to state agency mandatory inquiry provisions (Part D); requires coroners and medical examiners to develop a protocol for making referrals of deaths that fall under their jurisdiction and occur outside of a hospital to the federally designated organ procurement organization (Part E).
To Amend The Revised Arkansas Anatomical Gift Act; To Allow Certain Classes Of Persons To Revoke Or Amend An Anatomical Gift Upon The Death Of The Donor; And To Require Certain Reporting Of Procurement Organizations.
Enacts the mental health assessment and record keeping for the coroner's office act; requires the coroner, coroner and coroner's physician, or the medical examiner, to conduct a mental health assessment when a death occurs in such person's jurisdiction; requires death certificates list an underlying mental illness as the cause of death when a person commits suicide; requires life insurance policies to pay upon a suicide which the coroner, coroner and coroner's physician, or the medical examiner indicated an underlying mental illness as the cause of death.
Enacts the "New York saves lives act" to authorize any New York state resident aged sixteen and older to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor through the New York state donate life registry; adds a New York state donate life registry option on admission applications to the state university of New York and the city university of New York.