REVISED UNIFORM ANATOMICAL GIFT ACT (2006)
(Last Revised or Amended in 2008)
drafted by the
NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF COMMISSIONERS
ON UNIFORM STATE LAWS
and by it
APPROVED AND RECOMMENDED FOR ENACTMENT
IN ALL THE STATES
at its
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
MEETING IN ITS ONE-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTEENTH YEAR
HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA
July 7-14, 2006
WITHOUT PREFATORY NOTE AND COMMENTS
Copyright ©2006
By
NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF COMMISSIONERS
ON UNIFORM STATE LAWS
January 12, 2008
Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA)
Drafted by:
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL)
211 E. Ontario Street, Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60611
312-915-0195, www.nccusl.org
Brief description of act:
The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (2006) (UAGA 2006) revises the earlier 1968 and 1987 Uniform Acts, which are the basis for organ donation throughout the United States. UAGA 2006 is an important update to reflect the current system for allocations of cadaver organs for transplant purposes. It makes it easier to make a document of gift, particularly as provided on drivers’ licenses. It creates a power in certain individuals, such as a holder of a health care power of attorney, to authorize an anatomical gift on behalf of an incapacitated person, before death actually occurs. It expands the list of those who may make an anatomical gift after an individual dies, when the individual has not executed a document of gift. It makes it clear that an anatomical gift that does not specify the donees of organs goes to a recognized transplant organization responsible for allocating organs. It accommodates the use of donor registries upon which a potential donor may put a document of gift for notice purposes. It more clearly provides for a document of refusal if an individual does not want organs donated. There are criminal penalties for misrepresentation of a document of gift for the purposes of selling organs or tissue. The Act attempts to resolve ambiguity and conflict between anatomical gifts and “Do Not Resuscitate” instructions. Without changing the basic concept that an individual may execute a document of gift to donate organs, UAGA 2006 makes the Act more usable than the earlier acts are currently.
Questions about UAGA?
For further information contact the following persons:
Michelle Clayton, NCCUSL Legislative Counsel: 312-915-0195,
Carlyle C. Ring, Jr., Chair of the UAGA drafting committee:
Sheldon F. Kurtz, Reporter for the UAGA drafting committee:
Notes about NCCUSL Acts:
For information on the specific drafting rules used by NCCUSL, the Conference Procedural and Drafting Manual is available online at www.nccusl.org.
Because these are uniform acts, it is important to keep the numbering sequence intact while drafting.
In general, the use of bracketed language in NCCUSL acts indicates that a choice must be made between alternate bracketed language, or that specific language must be inserted into the empty brackets. For example: “An athlete agent who violates Section 14 is guilty of a [misdemeanor] [felony] and, upon conviction, is punishable by [ ].
A word, number, or phrase, or even an entire section, may be placed in brackets to indicate that the bracketed language is suggested but may be changed to conform to state usage or requirements, or to indicate that the entire section is optional. For example: “An applicant for registration shall submit an application for registration to the [Secretary of State] in a form prescribed by the [Secretary of State]. [An application filed under this section is a public record.] The application must be in the name of an individual, and, except as otherwise provided in subsection (b), signed or otherwise authenticated by the applicant under penalty of perjury.”
The sponsor may need to be consulted when dealing with bracketed language.
REVISED UNIFORM ANATOMICAL GIFT ACT
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This [act] may be cited as the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
SECTION 2. DEFINITIONS. In this [act]:
(1) “Adult” means an individual who is at least [18] years of age.
(2) “Agent” means an individual:
(A) authorized to make health-care decisions on the principal’s behalf by a power of attorney for health care; or
(B) expressly authorized to make an anatomical gift on the principal’s behalf by any other record signed by the principal.
(3) “Anatomical gift” means a donation of all or part of a human body to take effect after the donor’s death for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education.
(4) “Decedent” means a deceased individual whose body or part is or may be the source of an anatomical gift. The term includes a stillborn infant and, subject to restrictions imposed by law other than this [act], a fetus.
(5) “Disinterested witness” means a witness other than the spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandchild, grandparent, or guardian of the individual who makes, amends, revokes, or refuses to make an anatomical gift, or another adult who exhibited special care and concern for the individual. The term does not include a person to which an anatomical gift could pass under Section 11.
(6) “Document of gift” means a donor card or other record used to make an anatomical gift. The term includes a statement or symbol on a driver’s license, identification card, or donor registry.
(7) “Donor” means an individual whose body or part is the subject of an anatomical gift.
(8) “Donor registry” means a database that contains records of anatomical gifts and amendments to or revocations of anatomical gifts.
(9) “Driver’s license” means a license or permit issued by the [state department of motor vehicles] to operate a vehicle, whether or not conditions are attached to the license or permit.
(10) “Eye bank” means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of human eyes or portions of human eyes.
(11) “Guardian” means a person appointed by a court to make decisions regarding the support, care, education, health, or welfare of an individual. The term does not include a guardian ad litem.
(12) “Hospital” means a facility licensed as a hospital under the law of any state or a facility operated as a hospital by the United States, a state, or a subdivision of a state.
(13) “Identification card” means an identification card issued by the [state department of motor vehicles].
(14) “Know” means to have actual knowledge.
(15) “Minor” means an individual who is under [18] years of age.
(16) “Organ procurement organization” means a person designated by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services as an organ procurement organization.
(17) “Parent” means a parent whose parental rights have not been terminated.
(18) “Part” means an organ, an eye, or tissue of a human being. The term does not include the whole body.
(19) “Person” means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.
(20) “Physician” means an individual authorized to practice medicine or osteopathy under the law of any state.
(21) “Procurement organization” means an eye bank, organ procurement organization, or tissue bank.
(22) “Prospective donor” means an individual who is dead or near death and has been determined by a procurement organization to have a part that could be medically suitable for transplantation, therapy, research, or education. The term does not include an individual who has made a refusal.
(23) “Reasonably available” means able to be contacted by a procurement organization without undue effort and willing and able to act in a timely manner consistent with existing medical criteria necessary for the making of an anatomical gift.
(24) “Recipient” means an individual into whose body a decedent’s part has been or is intended to be transplanted.
(25) “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
(26) “Refusal” means a record created under Section 7 that expressly states an intent to bar other persons from making an anatomical gift of an individual’s body or part.
(27) “Sign” means, with the present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:
(A) to execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(B) to attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.
(28) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
(29) “Technician” means an individual determined to be qualified to remove or process parts by an appropriate organization that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law. The term includes an enucleator.
(30) “Tissue” means a portion of the human body other than an organ or an eye. The term does not include blood unless the blood is donated for the purpose of research or education.
(31) “Tissue bank” means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of tissue.
(32) “Transplant hospital” means a hospital that furnishes organ transplants and other medical and surgical specialty services required for the care of transplant patients.
Legislative note: If this state does not license “hospitals”, the definition of “hospital” should include a reference to the facility or facilities with equivalent functions by an additional sentence such as the following: “The term includes an acute care facility.”
SECTION 3. APPLICABILITY. This [act] applies to an anatomical gift or amendment to, revocation of, or refusal to make an anatomical gift, whenever made.
SECTION 4. WHO MAY MAKE ANATOMICAL GIFT BEFORE DONOR’S DEATH. Subject to Section 8, an anatomical gift of a donor’s body or part may be made during the life of the donor for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education in the manner provided in Section 5 by:
(1) the donor, if the donor is an adult or if the donor is a minor and is:
(A) emancipated; or
(B) authorized under state law to apply for a driver’s license because the donor is at least [insert the youngest age at which an individual may apply for any type of driver’s license] years of age;
(2) an agent of the donor, unless the power of attorney for health care or other record prohibits the agent from making an anatomical gift;
(3) a parent of the donor, if the donor is an unemancipated minor; or
(4) the donor’s guardian.
SECTION 5. MANNER OF MAKING ANATOMICAL GIFT BEFORE DONOR’S DEATH.
(a) A donor may make an anatomical gift:
(1) by authorizing a statement or symbol indicating that the donor has made an anatomical gift to be imprinted on the donor’s driver’s license or identification card;
(2) in a will;
(3) during a terminal illness or injury of the donor, by any form of communication addressed to at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness; or
(4) as provided in subsection (b).
(b) A donor or other person authorized to make an anatomical gift under Section 4 may make a gift by a donor card or other record signed by the donor or other person making the gift or by authorizing that a statement or symbol indicating that the donor has made an anatomical gift be included on a donor registry. If the donor or other person is physically unable to sign a record, the record may be signed by another individual at the direction of the donor or other person and must:
(1) be witnessed by at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness, who have signed at the request of the donor or the other person; and
(2) state that it has been signed and witnessed as provided in paragraph (1).
(c) Revocation, suspension, expiration, or cancellation of a driver’s license or identification card upon which an anatomical gift is indicated does not invalidate the gift.
(d) An anatomical gift made by will takes effect upon the donor’s death whether or not the will is probated. Invalidation of the will after the donor’s death does not invalidate the gift.
SECTION 6. AMENDING OR REVOKING ANATOMICAL GIFT BEFORE DONOR’S DEATH.
(a) Subject to Section 8, a donor or other person authorized to make an anatomical gift under Section 4 may amend or revoke an anatomical gift by:
(1) a record signed by:
(A) the donor;
(B) the other person; or
(C) subject to subsection (b), another individual acting at the direction of the donor or the other person if the donor or other person is physically unable to sign; or
(2) a later-executed document of gift that amends or revokes a previous anatomical gift or portion of an anatomical gift, either expressly or by inconsistency.
(b) A record signed pursuant to subsection (a)(1)(C) must:
(1) be witnessed by at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness, who have signed at the request of the donor or the other person; and