2017 Alaska Statutes
Title 13. Decedents' Estates, Guardianships, Transfers, Trusts, and Health Care Decisions
Chapter 52. Health Care Decisions Act
Sec. 13.52.255. Cooperation between coroner, state medical examiner, and procurement organization.
(a) A coroner and a state medical examiner shall cooperate with procurement organizations to maximize the opportunity to recover anatomical gifts for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education.
(b) If a coroner or a state medical examiner receives notice from a procurement organization that an anatomical gift might be available or was made with respect to a decedent whose body is under the jurisdiction of the coroner or state medical examiner and a postmortem examination is going to be performed, unless the coroner or state medical examiner denies recovery under AS 13.52.257, the coroner, the state medical examiner, or a designee shall conduct a postmortem examination of the body or the part in a manner and within a period compatible with its preservation for the purposes of the gift.
(c) A part may not be removed from the body of a decedent under the jurisdiction of a coroner or a state medical examiner for transplantation, therapy, research, or education unless the part is the subject of an anatomical gift. The body of a decedent under the jurisdiction of the coroner or state medical examiner may not be delivered to a person for research or education unless the body is the subject of an anatomical gift. This subsection does not preclude a coroner or the state medical examiner from performing the medicolegal investigation on the body or parts of a decedent under the jurisdiction of the coroner or state medical examiner.
