(1) If, based on accepted medical standards, a hospital patient is a suitable candidate for organ or tissue donation, the hospital administrator or the hospital administrator’s designee shall, at or near the time of death, notify the appropriate procurement organization, which shall access the donor registry created by s. 765.5155 or any other donor registry to ascertain the existence of an entry in the registry which has not been revoked or a document of gift executed by the decedent. In the absence of an entry in the donor registry, a document of gift, or other properly executed document, the procurement organization shall request:

(a) The patient’s health care surrogate, as authorized in s. 765.512(2); or
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Terms Used In Florida Statutes 765.522

  • Agency: means the Agency for Health Care Administration. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Death: means the absence of life as determined, in accordance with currently accepted medical standards, by the irreversible cessation of all respiration and circulatory function, or as determined, in accordance with…. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Decedent: means a deceased individual whose body or body parts may be, or are, the source of an anatomical gift. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Document of gift: means any of the documents or mechanisms used in making an anatomical gift under…. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • Donor: means an individual who makes an anatomical gift of all or part of his or her body. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Donor registry: means a database that contains records of anatomical gifts and amendments to, or revocations of, such gifts. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Eye bank: means an entity that is accredited by the Eye Bank Association of America or otherwise regulated under federal or state law to engage in the retrieval, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of human eye tissue. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • gift: means a donation of all or part of a human body to take effect after the donor's death and to be used for transplantation, therapy, research, or education. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Health care: means care, services, or supplies related to the health of an individual and includes, but is not limited to, preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, maintenance, or palliative care, and counseling, service, assessment, or procedure with respect to the individual's physical or mental condition or functional status or that affect the structure or function of the individual's body. See Florida Statutes 765.101
  • Hospital: means a hospital licensed, accredited, or approved under the laws of any state and includes a hospital operated by the United States Government or a state, or a subdivision thereof, although not required to be licensed under state laws. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Organ procurement organization: means an entity that is designated as an organ procurement organization by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and that engages in the retrieval, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of human organs. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
  • Procurement: means any retrieval, recovery, processing, storage, or distribution of human organs or tissues for transplantation, therapy, research, or education. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Procurement organization: means an organ procurement organization, eye bank, or tissue bank. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Reasonably available: means able to be contacted by a procurement organization in a timely manner without undue effort, and willing and able to act in a manner consistent with existing medical protocols necessary for the making of an anatomical gift. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Surrogate: means any competent adult expressly designated by a principal to make health care decisions and to receive health information. See Florida Statutes 765.101
  • Tissue bank: means an entity that is accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks or otherwise regulated under federal or state law to engage in the retrieval, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of human tissue. See Florida Statutes 765.511
(b) If the patient does not have a surrogate, or the surrogate is not reasonably available, any of the persons specified in s. 765.512(3), in the order and manner listed,

to consent to the anatomical gift of the decedent‘s body for any purpose specified in this part. Except as provided in s. 765.512, in the absence of actual notice of opposition, consent need only be obtained from the person or persons in the highest priority class reasonably available.

(2) A document of gift is valid if executed in accordance with this part or the laws of the state or country where it was executed and where the person making the anatomical gift was domiciled, has a place of residence, or was a citizen at the time the document of gift was executed.
(3) The agency shall establish rules and guidelines concerning the education of individuals who may be designated to perform the request and the procedures to be used in making the request. The agency is authorized to adopt rules concerning the documentation of the request, where such request is made.
(4) If a document of gift is valid under this section, the laws of this state govern the interpretation of the document of gift.
(5) A document of gift or amendment of an anatomical gift is presumed to be valid unless it was not validly executed or was revoked.
(6) There shall be no civil or criminal liability against any procurement organization certified under s. 765.542 or against any hospital or hospital administrator or designee who complies with the provisions of this part and agency rules or if, in the exercise of reasonable care, a request for organ donation is inappropriate and the gift is not made according to this part and agency rules.
(7) The hospital administrator or a designee shall, at or near the time of death of a potential donor, directly notify the affiliated organ procurement organization of the potential organ donor. The organ procurement organization must offer any organ from such a donor first to patients on a Florida-based local or state organ sharing transplant list. For the purpose of this subsection, the term “transplant list” includes certain categories of national or regional organ sharing for patients of exceptional need or exceptional match, as approved or mandated by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, or its agent. This notification may not be made to a tissue bank or eye bank in lieu of the organ procurement organization unless the tissue bank or eye bank is also designated as an organ procurement organization.
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