Connecticut General Statutes 19a-290 – Eligibility of persons with physical, mental or intellectual disabilities to receive anatomical gifts or organs
(a) As used in this section:
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 19a-290
- adaptive behavior: means the effectiveness or degree with which an individual meets the standards of personal independence and social responsibility expected for the individual's age and cultural group as measured by tests that are individualized, standardized and clinically and culturally appropriate to the individual. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1g
- Donor: The person who makes a gift.
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- intellectual disability: means a significant limitation in intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior that originated during the developmental period before eighteen years of age. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1g
- significant limitation in intellectual functioning: means an intelligence quotient more than two standard deviations below the mean as measured by tests of general intellectual functioning that are individualized, standardized and clinically and culturally appropriate to the individual. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1g
(1) “Anatomical gift” means a donation of all or part of a human body to take effect after the donor‘s death for the purpose of transplantation;
(2) “Intellectual disability” means a significant limitation in intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior that originated during the developmental period before eighteen years of age;
(3) “Mental disability” means one or more mental disorders, as defined in the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”;
(4) “Organ” means all or part of a human liver, pancreas, kidney, intestine or lung; and
(5) “Physical disability” means any chronic physical handicap, infirmity or impairment, whether congenital or resulting from bodily injury, organic processes or changes or from illness, including, but not limited to, blindness, epilepsy, deafness or being hard of hearing or reliance on a wheelchair or other remedial appliance or device.
(b) A person who is a candidate to receive an anatomical gift or an organ from a living donor for transplantation shall not be deemed ineligible to receive the anatomical gift or organ solely because of the person’s physical, mental or intellectual disability, except to the extent that a physician has determined, following an evaluation of the person, that the person’s physical, mental or intellectual disability is medically significant so as to contraindicate the acceptance of the anatomical gift or organ. If a person has the necessary support to assist the person in complying with post-transplant medical requirements, the person’s inability to comply with such requirements without assistance shall not be deemed to be medically significant. The provisions of this subsection shall apply to each part of the transplant process.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a physician to make a referral or recommendation for, or perform a medically inappropriate transplant of an anatomical gift or organ.