Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 16 > Article 19 - Anatomical Gift Act

• Adult: means an individual who is at least 18 years of age. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Agent: means an individual:

  (1) Authorized by a medical power of attorney to make health care decisions on behalf of a prospective donor. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3

• 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.
• 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, therapy, research, or education. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Authorized person: means a person other than the donor who is authorized to make an anatomical gift of the donor's body or part by §. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of the bureau, who may be designated as the state health officer. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• decedent: includes a stillborn infant and, subject to restrictions imposed by law other than this article, a fetus. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Department: means the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources: Provided, That beginning January 1, 2024, as used in this chapter, "department" and "Department of Health and Human Resources" means the Department of Health. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Disinterested witness: means a witness other than the spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandchild, grandparent, or guardian of, or another adult who exhibited special care and concern for, an individual who has made, amended, revoked, or refused to make an anatomical gift. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Document of gift: means a donor card or other record used to make an anatomical gift. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Donor: means an individual whose body or part is the subject of an anatomical gift. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Donor registry: means a database that contains records of anatomical gifts and amendments to, or revocations, of anatomical gifts. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Eye bank: means a person licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of human eyes or portions of human eyes. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Guardian: means a person appointed by a court to make decisions regarding the support, care, education, health, or welfare of an individual. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• 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 West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Hunting or fishing license: means a license issued by the Division of Natural Resources pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Identification card: means an identification card issued by the Division of Motor Vehicles pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• 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.
• Know: means to have actual knowledge. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Laws of the state: includes the Constitution of the State of West Virginia and the Constitution of the United States, and treaties and laws made in pursuance thereof. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• medical examiner: includes any person designated by the medical examiner to perform any duties required by this article. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Minor: means an individual who is under 18 years of age. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Organ procurement organization: means a nonprofit entity designated by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services as an organ procurement organization pursuant to 42 U. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Parent: means another person's natural or adoptive mother or father whose parental rights have not been terminated by a court of law. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Part: means an organ, an eye, or tissue of a human being. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• 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 West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Physician: means an individual authorized to practice medicine or osteopathy under the law of any state. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Physician assistant: has the meaning provided in §. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Probate: Proving a will
• Procurement organization: means an eye bank, organ procurement organization, or tissue bank. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Prospective donor: means an individual who is dead or near death and has been determined by a procurement organization to have a part that could be medically suitable for transplantation, therapy, research, or education. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Reasonably available: means able to be contacted by a procurement organization without undue effort and willing and able to act in a timely manner consistent with existing medical criteria necessary for the making of an anatomical gift. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Recipient: means an individual into whose body a decedent's part has been or is intended to be transplanted. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Refusal: means a record created under §. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Revocation: means the affirmative declaration of the potential donor's withdrawal of their decision to make or not make a document of gift. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources: Provided, That beginning January 1, 2024, as used in this chapter, "secretary" means the secretary of the Department of Health. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Sign: means to execute or adopt a tangible symbol or attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound or process, with the present intent to authenticate or adopt a record. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• 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 West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Surrogate: means an individual 18 years of age or older who is reasonably available, is willing to make health care decisions on behalf of an incapacitated person, possesses the capacity to make health care decisions, and is identified or selected by the attending physician or advanced nurse practitioner in accordance with §. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• technician: includes an enucleator, i. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Tissue: means a portion of the human body other than an organ or an eye. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3
• Tissue bank: means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of tissue. See West Virginia Code 16-19-3