2005 Alaska Statutes
Title 13 DECEDENTS' ESTATES, GUARDIANSHIPS, TRANSFERS, AND TRUSTS
Chapter 13.52. HEALTH CARE DECISIONS ACT
Sec. 13.52.200. Routine inquiry and required request; search and notification.

(a) If, at or near the time of death of a patient, there is no medical record that the patient has made or refused to make an anatomical gift, the hospital administrator or a designee of the hospital shall contact a procurement organization so that the procurement organization may discuss the potential to make a gift with the family, agent, or surrogate of the patient. The procurement organization shall discuss the potential gift with reasonable discretion and sensitivity to the circumstances of the family.

(b) [Repealed, Sec. 11 ch 44 SLA 2005].

(c) [Repealed, Sec. 11 ch 44 SLA 2005].

(d) The following persons shall make a reasonable search for a document of gift or other information identifying the bearer as a donor or as an individual who has refused to make an anatomical gift:

(1) a law enforcement officer, fire fighter, paramedic, or other emergency rescuer finding an individual who the searcher believes is dead or near death; and

(2) a hospital, a rural clinic, a mortuary, a hospice, or a procurement organization, upon the admission of an individual at or near the time of death, if there is not immediately available any other source of that information.

(e) If a document of gift or evidence of refusal to make an anatomical gift is located by the search required by (d)(1) of this section, and the individual or body to whom it relates is

(1) taken to a hospital, the hospital shall be notified of the contents, and the document or other evidence shall be sent to the hospital;

(2) not taken to a hospital, the persons identified in (d)(1) of this section or a designee of the persons identified in (d)(1) of this section shall notify a procurement organization.

(f) If, at or near the time of death of a patient, a hospital, rural clinic, mortuary, or hospice knows that an anatomical gift has been made under AS 13.52.170 or 13.52.180(a), or that a patient or an individual identified as in transit to the hospital, rural clinic, mortuary, or hospice is a donor, the hospital, rural clinic, mortuary, or hospice shall notify a procurement organization. The hospital, rural clinic, mortuary, or hospice shall cooperate in the implementation of the anatomical gift or release and removal of a part.

(g) Notwithstanding AS 13.52.090 , a person who fails to discharge the duties imposed by this section is not subject to criminal or civil liability but is subject to appropriate administrative sanctions.

(h) The commissioner of health and social services shall adopt regulations to implement (a) of this section.

(i) In this section, "procurement organization" means an organization that operates in this state and is licensed, accredited, or otherwise authorized under the laws of this state or another state to handle the procurement, distribution, or storage of all or a part of an individual's body.