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
S08296 amends the County Law to expand and clarify the role of coroners and medical examiners in cases involving potential eye and tissue donation. The bill requires a coroner to develop a referral protocol for deaths under their jurisdiction that occur outside a hospital, including promptly contacting the appropriate eye and tissue bank so that procurement organizations can verify donor registry status and determine donor suitability.
The bill also updates existing County Law provisions governing deaths of incarcerated individuals and autopsy procedures. When a decedent under coroner or medical examiner jurisdiction is determined to be a donor and the donation is medically suitable and properly authorized under the Public Health Law, the coroner, coroner’s physician, or medical examiner must conduct any autopsy or analysis of eyes, tissues, or organs in a way and within a timeframe that preserves the donation for transplantation.
Impact
The bill would amend sections 671 and 674-a of the County Law to impose new procedural duties on coroners and medical examiners statewide. It creates a formal referral process for non-hospital deaths and requires coordination with eye and tissue banks and procurement organizations, while also limiting how autopsies may be performed when donation is possible. The measure is intended to improve identification and preservation of anatomical gifts, and it affects county coroners, medical examiners, procurement organizations, and transplant-related donation processes.
Sentiment
The available legislative history suggests generally favorable sentiment toward the bill. It passed the Senate Local Government Committee unanimously, 6-0, indicating support for the goal of increasing organ, eye, and tissue donation opportunities and improving coordination between death investigators and procurement organizations. No opposing remarks or recorded controversy are included in the provided materials.
Contention
The main policy issue is the balance between timely death investigation and preserving organs, eyes, and tissues for transplantation. The bill requires coroners and medical examiners to coordinate quickly with procurement organizations and to conduct autopsies in a manner compatible with donation, which could raise operational concerns about workload, timing, and forensic priorities. Another point is the bill’s application to deaths outside hospitals and to incarcerated individuals, where procedures may be more complex, but no specific opposition is shown in the provided record.
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.