(a)  Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b), a person that for valuable consideration, knowingly purchases or sells a part for transplantation or therapy if removal of a part from an individual is intended to occur after the individual’s death commits a felony and upon conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or imprisonment not exceeding five (5) years, or both.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-18.6.1-16

  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • Donor: means an individual whose body or part is the subject of an anatomical gift. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-18.6.1-2
  • 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 Rhode Island General Laws 23-18.6.1-2
  • Part: means an organ, an eye, or tissue of a human being. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-18.6.1-2
  • 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 Rhode Island General Laws 23-18.6.1-2
  • Physician: means an individual authorized to practice medicine or osteopathy under the law of any state. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-18.6.1-2

(b)  Subject to subsection (c), a person may charge a reasonable amount for the removal, processing, preservation, quality control, storage, transportation, implantation, or disposal of a part.

(c)  No physician, hospital or other healthcare provider may charge the donor‘s estate or family for any cost incurred in testing or removing a donor‘s part, and such charge shall be void and unenforceable.

History of Section.
P.L. 2007, ch. 476, § 2; P.L. 2009, ch. 235, § 1; P.L. 2009, ch. 236, § 1.