1999 Alaska Statutes
Title 13 DECEDENTS' ESTATES, GUARDIANSHIPS, TRANSFERS, AND TRUSTS
Chapter 13.50. UNIFORM ANATOMICAL GIFT ACT
Sec. 13.50.014. Requests by hospitals for anatomical gifts.

(a) When a person dies in a hospital or is pronounced dead after arriving at a hospital, the administrator or a designated employee 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. The administrator or employee shall request a gift under AS 13.50.010 (b), unless the administrator or employee knows that the person has executed a gift. Failure to make a reasonable search required under this subsection is not a basis for civil or criminal liability but may be the basis for appropriate administrative sanctions under regulations of the Department of Health and Social Services, the State Medical Board, or private hospital accrediting organizations.

(b) Each hospital in the state shall develop procedures for identifying potential donors of gifts, requesting gifts, notifying and coordinating with eye banks, tissue banks, and organ procurement agencies, and assisting in the procurement, removal, storage, and transportation of gifts. The procedures must specify the circumstances under which it is inappropriate to request a gift, such as if the gift is unsuitable, if the request is likely to offend the donor's religious beliefs, of if asked to make the request is likely to cause undue emotional distress to the person who would be making the gift. The procedures must encourage reasonable discretion and sensitivity.

(c) The commissioner of health and social services shall exempt from the requirements of (a) and (b) of this section a hospital that lacks the means to properly remove, store, or transport gifts. However, a hospital exempted under this subsection shall make reasonable efforts to contact a donor bank if a deceased person at the hospital has consented to an anatomical gift.