2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART VII - Hospitals, Institutions and Health Programs (§§ 3001 — 3891) › Chapter 150 - Donations and Transplants (§§ 3601-3619 — 3620y) › § 3620 - Definitions

The following terms shall have the meaning stated hereinbelow:
(a) Eye Bank.— Means the Eye Bank of the Puerto Rican Lion’s Club or any other similar entity that could exist in the future in Puerto Rico.
(b) Blood Bank.— Means any center that collects, processes, and preserves blood collected from humans in order to make it available for use when needed.
(c) Cornea.— Means the transparent membrane on the surface of the eye that measures approximately 12 mm x 12 mm (millimeters).
(d) Donor.— Means any person who makes a total or partial donation of his/her body or who, being authorized, donates the body of another person.
(e) Donee.— Means any institution, person or entity authorized by law to be named beneficiary of the donation.
(f) Recovering entity.— Means a juridical person duly authorized to recover and receive donations of organs or human body parts for donations and/or transplants in Puerto Rico, excluding, but not limited to: hospitals, blood banks, Organ Recovery Organization, Eye Bank of the Puerto Rican Lion’s Club, Bone Bank, Transplant Organs or other entities of similar nature.
(g) School of medicine.— Means every school of medicine duly accredited and authorized as such pursuant to the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(h) School of dentistry.— Means every school of dentistry duly accredited and authorized as such pursuant to the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(i) State.— Means the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(j) Deceased.— Means a dead person or stillborn and fetuses.
(k) Hospital.— Means a hospital authorized, accredited or approved by the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or of the United States of America.
(l) Board.— Means the Human Bodies, Organs, and Tissues Disposition Board created by §§ 3620-3620y of this title.
(m) Physician.— Means a person licensed or otherwise authorized to practice medicine pursuant to the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that is part of the medical team recognized by the United Network for Organ Sharing.
(n) Death.— Means the irreversible ceasing of respiratory and circulatory functions of the person or the irreversible and total ceasing of all brain functions, including the functions of the brain stem.
(o) Part.— Means any organ or part of the human body, such as the cornea, bones, artery, blood or other fluids.
(p) Person.— Means any natural or juridical person or any instrumentality or government agency or its subdivisions.
(q) Organ Recovery Organization.— Means the organ recovery agency authorized and certified by the federal government to recover organs in Puerto Rico.
(r) United Network for Organ Sharing or UNOS.— Means the entity contracted by the federal government pursuant to the National Organ Transplant Act, which is responsible for maintaining and operating the national computerized registry of persons waiting for an organ transplant and for coordinating the distribution and placement of organs recovered in the United States.
(s) Recipient.— Means the patient who receives the transplant.
History —Dec. 25, 2002, No. 296, § 2; Aug. 25, 2012, No. 210, § 1.