Citations Affected: IC 9-18; IC 9-24; IC 29-2.
Synopsis: Organ donor notation. Requires the bureau of motor
vehicles to ask an applicant for a driver's license or an identification
card whether the applicant wishes to make an anatomical gift. If the
applicant desires to make an anatomical gift, requires the bureau of
motor vehicles to indicate upon an application for a driver's license or
identification card which specified organs are not intended to be a part
of an anatomical gift. Requires the bureau of motor vehicles to place an
identifying symbol on the face of a driver's license or identification
card to indicate that the bearer has made an anatomical gift. Makes
conforming amendments.
Effective: July 1, 2000; January 1, 2001.
November 23, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on Roads and
Transportation.
January 27, 2000, amended, reported _ Do Pass.
February 1, 2000, read second time, amended, ordered engrossed.
February 2, 2000, engrossed.
February 7, 2000, read third time, passed. Yeas 97, nays 1.
A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
motor vehicles.
shall verbally ask every individual who applies for a nonprobationary
driver's license or an identification card issued under IC 9-24-16
whether the individual desires to make an anatomical gift.
(b) If the individual does desire to make an anatomical gift, the
bureau shall assist the individual in completing the form by which the
individual makes the gift.
SECTION 4. IC 9-24-17-7 IS AMENDED TO READ AS
FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2001]: Sec. 7. (a) Upon
request the bureau shall make available to an individual who is less
than eighteen (18) years of age an anatomical gift card that identifies
the individual as an organ donor. Before issuing an individual who is
less than eighteen (18) years of age may make an anatomical gift,
card, the bureau must obtain and document the consent required under
section 8 of this chapter and the consent of the individual's parent or
guardian.
(b) The bureau may charge a fee to an individual obtaining making
an anatomical gift card under subsection (a) section 1 of this chapter.
The fee must equal an amount necessary to cover the cost of making
available the anatomical a document that acknowledges the making
of the gift. card.
will. The gift becomes effective upon the death of the testator without
waiting for probate. If the will is not probated, or if it is declared
invalid for testamentary purposes, the gift, to the extent that it has been
acted upon in good faith, is nevertheless valid and effective.
(b) A gift of all or part of the body under section 2(a) of this chapter
may also be made by document other than a will. The gift becomes
effective upon the death of the donor. The document, which may be a
card designed to be carried on the person, must be signed by the donor.
If the donor cannot sign, the document may be signed by another for
the donor:
(1) at the donor's direction and in the donor's presence; and
(2) in the presence of two (2) witnesses who must sign the
document in the donor's presence and each other's presence.
The document must state that it has been signed in accordance with this
subsection. Delivery of the document of gift during the donor's lifetime
is not necessary to make the gift valid.
(c) The gift may be made to a specified donee or without specifying
a donee. If the latter, the gift may be accepted by the attending
physician as donee upon or following death. If the gift is made to a
specified donee who is not available at the time and place of death, the
attending physician upon or following death, in the absence of any
expressed indication that the donor desired otherwise, may accept the
gift as donee. The gift of an eye or part of an eye made without
specifying a donee, or made to a donee who is not available at the time
and place of death and without an expression of a contrary desire, may
be accepted by the attending physician as donee on behalf of an eye
bank in Indiana. The physician who becomes a donee under this
subsection shall not participate in the procedures for removing or
transplanting a part.
(d) Notwithstanding section 7(b) of this chapter, the donor may
designate in his will, card, or other document of gift the surgeon or
physician to carry out the appropriate procedures. In the absence of a
designation or if the designee is not available, the donee or other
person authorized to accept the gift may employ or authorize any
surgeon or physician for the purpose.
(e) After proper certification of death by a physician and compliance
with the intent of the gift as determined by reference to this chapter:
(1) with respect to a gift of an eye or part of an eye, including the
cornea or corneal tissue, the eye or part of the eye may be
removed for the gift by:
(A) a physician licensed under IC 25-22.5; or
(B) an individual who is registered with the medical licensing
board as a corneal excision technician; or
(2) with respect to a gift of a whole eye, the eye may be removed
for the gift by:
(A) a physician licensed under IC 25-22.5;
(B) an individual who is registered with the medical licensing
board as a corneal excision technician;
(C) an embalmer or a funeral director who, before September
1, 1983, completed a course in eye enucleation and was
certified as competent to enucleate eyes by an accredited
school of medicine; or
(D) an individual who is registered with the medical licensing
board as an eye enucleator.
(f) A person who, in good faith reliance upon a will, card, or other
document of gift, and without actual notice of the amendment,
revocation, or invalidity of the will, card, or document:
(1) takes possession of a decedent's body or performs or causes to
be performed surgical operations upon a decedent's body; or
(2) removes or causes to be removed organs, tissues, or other
parts from a decedent's body;
is not liable in damages in any civil action brought against the donor
for that act.
(g) Any gift by a person designated in section 2(b) of this chapter
shall be made by a document signed by the donor or made by the
donor's telegraphic, recorded telephonic, or other recorded message.
(h) An individual may refuse to make a gift under this chapter or
IC 9-24-17 of all or part of the individual's body by any of the following
methods:
(1) A writing signed in the same manner as a document under
subsection (b).
(2) A written statement attached to or imprinted on a person's
anatomical gift card received from the bureau of motor vehicles
under IC 9-24-17 and signed in the same manner as a gift under
IC 9-24-17-8.
(3) Any writing used to identify the individual as refusing to make
an anatomical gift under this chapter.
During a terminal illness or injury, the refusal may be an oral statement
or other form of communication.
(i) In the absence of a contrary indication by an individual, a gift
under this chapter of a part of the individual's body is neither a refusal
to give other parts of the body nor a limitation to give only part of the
body under this chapter or IC 9-24-17.
(j) In the absence of a contrary indication by an individual, a
revocation or an amendment under section 6 of this chapter is not a
refusal to make another gift under this chapter. If an individual intends
a revocation to be a refusal to make a gift under this chapter, the
individual must make the refusal in accordance with subsection (h).
(k) A gift under this chapter or IC 9-24-17 that is not revoked before
the donor dies is irrevocable.
(l) If a document of gift is attached to or imprinted on a donor's
motor vehicle operator's or chauffeur's driver's license or
identification card issued under IC 9-24-16, the document of gift
must comply with this section. Revocation, suspension, expiration, or
cancellation of the license or expiration of the license or
identification card does not invalidate the anatomical gift.
driver's license or identification card under IC 9-24-17; and
(2) the individual dies;
the person in possession of the individual driver's license or
identification card shall immediately produce the driver's license or
identification card for examination upon request, as provided in
section 5 of this chapter.
(f) A gift made in response to information provided under this
section must be documented as described under section 4(g) of this
chapter.
(g) When a representative is informed under this section about the
procedures available for making a gift, the fact that the representative
was so informed must be noted in the decedent's medical record.
(h) A person who fails to discharge the duties imposed by this
section is not subject to criminal or civil liability but may be subject to
administrative sanctions.