(a) When a hospital refers an individual at or near death to a procurement organization, the organization shall make a reasonable search of any donor registry and records of the state or county department of motor vehicles that it knows exist for the geographical area in which the individual resides to ascertain whether the individual has made an anatomical gift.
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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-14

  • Anatomical gift: means a donation of all or part of a human body to take effect after the donor's death for the purposes of transplantation, therapy, research, or education. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • Body part: means an eye or other organ, or tissue of a human being. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • county: includes the city and county of Honolulu. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-22
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Decedent: means a deceased individual whose body or body part is or may be the source of an anatomical gift. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • Document of gift: means a donor card or other record used to make an anatomical gift. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • Donor: means an individual whose body or body part is the subject of an anatomical gift. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Hospital: means a facility licensed as a hospital under the law of any state or a facility operated as a hospital by the United States, a state, or a subdivision of a state. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • Physician: means an individual authorized to practice medicine or osteopathy under the law of any state. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • Procurement organization: means an eye bank, organ procurement organization, or tissue bank. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • Prospective donor: means an individual who is dead or near death and has been determined by a procurement organization to have a body part that could be medically suitable for transplantation, therapy, research, or education. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • Refusal: means a record created under § 327-7 that expressly states an intent to bar other persons from making an anatomical gift of an individual's body or body part. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
  • Technician: means an individual determined to be qualified to remove or process body parts by an appropriate organization that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 327-2
(b) A procurement organization shall be allowed reasonable access to information in the records of the state or county department of motor vehicles to ascertain whether an individual at or near death is a donor.
(c) When a hospital refers an individual at or near death to a procurement organization, the organization may conduct any reasonable examination necessary to ensure the medical suitability of a body part that is or could be the subject of an anatomical gift for transplantation, therapy, research, or education from a donor or a prospective donor. During the examination period, measures necessary to ensure the medical suitability of the body part may not be withdrawn unless the hospital or procurement organization knows that the individual expressed a contrary intent or the attending physician has determined that continuing these measures would not be consistent with generally accepted standards of care for terminally ill patients.
(d) Unless prohibited by law other than this part, at any time after a donor’s death, the person to which a body part passes under section 327-11 may conduct any reasonable examination necessary to ensure the medical suitability of the body or body part for its intended purpose.
(e) Unless prohibited by law other than this part, an examination under subsection (c) or (d) may include an examination of all medical records of the donor or prospective donor.
(f) If a donor, at the time of death, is under eighteen years of age, a procurement organization shall conduct a reasonable search for the parents of the donor and, unless the procurement organization knows the donor is an emancipated minor as deemed by § 577-25, provide the parents with an opportunity to revoke or amend the anatomical gift or revoke a refusal.
(g) A procurement organization shall make a reasonable search for any person listed in section decedent‘s body or body part” class=”unlinked-ref” datatype=”S” sessionyear=”2022″ statecd=”HI”>327-9 having priority to make an anatomical gift on behalf of a prospective donor.
(h) If a procurement organization receives information that an anatomical gift to any other person was made, amended, or revoked, it shall promptly advise the other person of all relevant information.
(i) Subject to sections 327-11(h) and decedent whose body is under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner or coroner” class=”unlinked-ref” datatype=”S” sessionyear=”2022″ statecd=”HI”>327-23, the rights of the person to which a body part passes under section 327-11 are superior to rights of all others with respect to the body part. The person to whom an anatomical gift passes under this chapter shall accept or reject the anatomical gift unless the anatomical gift is medically unsuitable for transplantation, therapy, research, or education. The acceptance shall occur when the anatomical gift is made under this chapter, regardless of whether another person, including family members of the donor, has made an anatomical gift. Subject to the terms of the document of gift and this part, a person that accepts an anatomical gift of an entire body may allow embalming or cremation and use of remains in a funeral service. If the gift is of a body part, the person to which the body part passes under section 327-11, upon the death of the donor and before embalming or cremation, shall cause the body part to be removed without unnecessary mutilation.
(j) Neither the physician who attends the decedent at death nor the physician who determines the time of the decedent’s death may participate in the procedures for removing or transplanting a body part from the decedent.
(k) A physician or technician may remove a donated body part from the body of a donor that the physician or technician is qualified to remove.

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