Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia › Department 111 - RULES OF DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY HEALTH › Chapter 111-8 - HEALTHCARE FACILITY REGULATION › Subject 111-8-5 - ANATOMICAL GIFTS › Rule 111-8-5-.07 - Routine Requests on or Before the Occurrence of Death in Hospitals

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through June 27, 2024
(1) All hospitals
				shall establish, implement, and maintain written policies and procedures for
				requesting anatomical gifts on or before the occurrence of death in hospitals.
				The primary purpose of such policies and procedures shall be to inform persons
				specified in Rule .07(1)(c)1. and .07(1)(c)2. of their options of making
				anatomical gifts when previous expressed intentions have not been made either
				upon admission to the hospital or by document of gift. Such policies and
				procedures shall include a written agreement with a bank or storage facility
				and shall, at a minimum, include the following provisions:
(a) Screening and Identification of Potential
				Donors. Before initiating requests for anatomical gifts it must be determined
				that the body or parts are suitable for donation pursuant to the criteria at
				Rule .10 of this Chapter.
(b)
				Procedures for Notifying Bank or Storage Facilities of Potential Donors. If it
				is determined that a body or parts are suitable for donation, the hospital
				administrator or designated representatives shall contact the concerned bank or
				storage facility. However, such notification shall only be made in the absence
				of actual notice of contrary indications by the decedent, or in the absence of
				actual notice of opposition by a member of the same or prior classes specified
				in Rule .07(1)(c)1. and .07(1)(c)2. of this Chapter, and when persons in such
				prior classes are not available.
(c) Procedures for Making Requests. Actual
				request for donations must be made by the notified bank or storage facility and
				shall only be made if consent would yield a suitable donation. However,
				hospitals may enter into written cooperative agreements with one or more bank
				or storage facilities, under which agreements designated hospital staff,
				including physician or surgeons, may make requests as the authorized agents or
				representatives of the bank or storage facility. Such requests, whether made by
				hospital staff or the notified bank or storage facility, shall be made in the
				following manners:
1. For individuals 18
				years of age or older, any of the following persons, in order of priority
				stated, may be requested to give all or any part of the decedent's body for any
				purposes specified in Rule .04 of this Chapter.
(i) any person having the power to permit an
				anatomical gift of all or part of the body of the decedent if such power is
				granted pursuant to a health care agency created under Chapter 32 of Title 31,
				the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care Act.
(ii) the spouse;
(iii) an adult son or daughter;
(iv) either parent;
(v) an adult brother or sister;
(vi) a grandparent;
(vii) a guardian of the person of the
				decedent at the time of his death other than a guardian ad litem appointed for
				such purpose; or
(viii) any other
				person authorized or under obligation to dispose of the body.
2. For individuals under 18 years
				of age, any of the following persons, in order of priority stated, may be
				requested to give all or any part of the decedent's body for any purposes
				specified in Rule .04 of this Chapter.
(i)
				both parents;
(ii) if both parents
				are not readily available and no contrary indications of the absent parent are
				known, one parent;
(iii) if the
				parents are divorced or legally separated, the custodial parent;
(iv) in the absence of the custodial parent,
				when no contrary indications of the absent parent are known, the noncustodial
				parent;
(v) if there are no
				parents, any grandparent;
(vi) if
				there are no parents readily available or any grandparents, the legal guardian;
				or
(vii) any other person
				authorized or obligated to dispose of the body.
3. Consent or refusal must be obtained from
				persons in the highest priority class available.
4. Consent shall be made by a document signed
				by the person making the gift or by his telegraphic, recorded telephonic, or
				other recorded message.
(d) Recordkeeping. The hospital administrator
				or designated representative shall record in a book any notification to a
				concerned bank or storage facility about a potential donor; whether, if
				appropriate, a request for a consent to a gift was made; whether or not consent
				was granted; and the name of the person granting the consent and his or her
				relationship to the decedent.