N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 4351

§ 4351. Duties of hospital administrators, organ procurement\norganizations, eye banks and tissue banks. 1. (a) When the death of a\nperson in a hospital has occurred or is imminent, the hospital shall\ncontact the federally designated organ procurement organization in order\nto make a preliminary determination of the suitability of the person for\norgan donation, except where not required by paragraph (c) of this\nsubdivision.\n (b) Where contact with the federally designated organ procurement\norganization is not required under criteria developed regionally by the\nfederally designated organ procurement organization subject to the\napproval of such criteria by the department, the hospital shall contact\nthe appropriate eye bank or tissue bank, except where not required by\nparagraph (c) of this subdivision.\n (c) The federally designated organ procurement organization, in\nconsultation with the tissue procurement providers, may issue criteria\nunder which a hospital shall not be required to make the contact under\nthis subdivision.\n (d) All hospitals shall select at least one eye bank or tissue bank\nfor the procurement of tissue, as defined in section forty-three hundred\nsixty of this chapter. A hospital shall notify the federally designated\norgan procurement organization of its choice of tissue procurement\nproviders. If a hospital selects more than one eye bank or tissue bank\nas a procurement provider, it may specify a rotation of referrals for\npurposes of tissue procurement.\n 2. Where the federally designated organ procurement organization, eye\nbank or tissue bank is contacted, it shall, in consultation with the\nhospital, after appropriate medical screening (which may include\nserological testing if applicable) determine suitability for organ, eye\nand tissue donation, as appropriate. Where a federally designated organ\nprocurement organization is contacted, it shall contact the appropriate\neye bank or tissue bank with respect to suitability for eye or tissue\ndonation.\n 3. If the federally designated organ procurement organization, eye\nbank or tissue bank determines that organ, eye or tissue donation,\nrespectively, is not appropriate based on established medical criteria,\nthis shall be noted by hospital personnel on the patient's record, and\nno further action with respect to organ, eye or tissue donation,\nrespectively, is necessary.\n 4. Where a patient is a suitable candidate for organ, eye or tissue\ndonation and where the patient has not properly executed an organ donor\ncard, driver's license authorization to make an anatomical gift,\npursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section five hundred\nfour of the vehicle and traffic law, registered in the New York state\norgan and tissue registry under section forty-three hundred ten of this\nchapter, or otherwise given written authorization for organ, eye or\ntissue donation, the hospital or its designee shall cause a timely\nrequest to be made to any of the following persons, in order of priority\nstated, when persons in prior classes are not reasonably available,\nwilling, and able to act, and in the absence of actual notice of\ncontrary intentions by the decedent, or actual notice of opposition by a\nperson or persons in the highest priority available of the classes\nspecified in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f) or (g) of this\nsubdivision, or other reason to believe that an anatomic gift is\ncontrary to the decedent's religious beliefs, to consent to the gift of\nall or any part of the decedent's body for any purpose specified in\narticle forty-three of this chapter:\n (a) the person designated as the decedent's health care agent under\narticle twenty-nine-C of this chapter, subject to any written statement\nin the health care proxy form;\n (b) the person designated as the decedent's agent in a written\ninstrument under article forty-two of this chapter, subject to any\nwritten statement in the written instrument;\n (c) the spouse, if not legally separated from the patient, or the\ndomestic partner;\n (d) a son or daughter eighteen years of age or older;\n (e) either parent;\n (f) a brother or sister eighteen years of age or older;\n (g) a guardian of the person of the decedent at the time of his or her\ndeath.\n 5. For the purposes of this section, "reasonably available" means that\na person to be contacted can be contacted without undue effort and\nwilling and able to act in a timely manner consistent with existing\nmedical criteria necessary for the making of an anatomical gift.\n 6. For the purposes of this section, "domestic partner" means a person\nwho, with respect to another person:\n (a) is formally a party in a domestic partnership or similar\nrelationship with the other person, entered into pursuant to the laws of\nthe United States or any state, local or foreign jurisdiction, or\nregistered as the domestic partner of the person with any registry\nmaintained by the employer of either party or any state, municipality,\nor foreign jurisdiction; or\n (b) is formally recognized as a beneficiary or covered person under\nthe other person's employment benefits or health insurance; or\n (c) is dependent or mutually interdependent on the other person for\nsupport, as evidenced by the totality of the circumstances indicating a\nmutual intent to be domestic partners including but not limited to:\ncommon ownership or joint leasing of real or personal property; common\nhouseholding, shared income or shared expenses; children in common;\nsigns of intent to marry or become domestic partners under paragraph (a)\nor (b) of this subdivision; or the length of the personal relationship\nof the persons.\n Each party to a domestic partnership shall be considered to be the\ndomestic partner of the other party. "Domestic partner" shall not\ninclude a person who is related to the other person by blood in a manner\nthat would bar marriage to the other person in New York state. "Domestic\npartner" shall also not include any person who is less than eighteen\nyears of age or who is the adopted child of the other person or who is\nrelated by blood in a manner that would bar marriage in New York state\nto a person who is the lawful spouse of the other person.\n 7. The person initiating the request shall be designated by a hospital\nand shall be a representative of a federally designated organ\nprocurement organization, eye bank, tissue bank, or a designated\nrequestor. As used in this section a "designated requestor" shall mean a\nperson who has completed a course provided by a federally designated\norgan procurement organization, eye bank or tissue bank, whichever is\napplicable, on how to approach potential donor families and request\norgan, eye, or tissue donation.\n 8. Any employee or agent of a federally designated organ procurement\norganization, eye bank or tissue bank acting pursuant to this section\nshall be held to the same standard of confidentiality as that imposed on\nemployees of the hospital.\n 9. The person who documents the making, amending or revoking of an\nanatomical gift, acting reasonably and in good faith in accordance with\nthis article, may accept an anatomical gift under this article made by a\nperson who represents that he or she is entitled to consent to the\ndonation.\n 10. The provisions of subdivision three of section forty-three hundred\nsix of this chapter shall apply to this section. To the extent\npermissible under such subdivision, any person or organization acting\npursuant to this section, shall be legally responsible for any negligent\nor intentional act or omission committed by such entity or its employees\nor agents.\n 11. A gift made pursuant to the request required by this section shall\nbe executed pursuant to applicable provisions of article forty-three of\nthis chapter.\n 12. The commissioner shall establish regulations concerning the\ntraining of persons who may be designated to perform the request, and\nthe procedures to be employed in making it.\n 13. The commissioner shall establish such additional regulations as\nare necessary for the implementation of this section.\n