Rule 111-8-40-.27 - Organ, Tissue, and Eye Procurement and TransplantationThe hospital shall participate, as appropriate, in the procurement of anatomical gifts.
(a)Receipt of Donations. The hospital shall receive donations of organs or tissues for the purposes of medical and dental education, research, advancement of medical or dental science, therapy, or transplantation only in accordance with the provisions of the "Georgia Anatomical Gift Act," O.C.G.A. Section 44-5-140, and the applicable rules of Chapter 111-8-5.(b)Voluntary Expression of Intent to Donate. The hospital shall establish and implement policies and procedures for documenting requests by patients regarding their intentions for disposition of their bodies or organs and for seeing that these expressed intentions are honored upon death when possible.(c)Hospital Requests for Anatomical Gifts. The hospital shall establish and implement policies and procedures for requesting anatomical gifts on or before the occurrence of death in the absence of a patient's expressed intentions. 1. Policies and procedures shall provide for a written agreement(s) with an organ bank or storage facility with the provisions specified in Rules for Anatomical Gifts, Chapter 111-8-5-.07, and provisions for the training of staff authorized to request the gifts, when applicable.2. Where the hospital does not have the Organ Procurement Organization handle requests for anatomical gifts, the hospital shall designate staff authorized to make requests for anatomical gifts, and such staff shall be appropriately trained in the following areas: (i) Psychological and emotional considerations when dealing with bereaved families;(ii) Social, cultural, ethical, and religious factors affecting attitudes toward donations;(iii) General medical concepts and issues in organ, tissue, and eye donations;(iv) Procedures for declaring death and collecting and preserving organs, tissues, and/or other body parts and for how these procedures are to be explained to decedents' families;(v) Procedures for notifying and involving banks or storage facilities; and(vi) procedures for recording the outcomes of requests.3. If the hospital engages in harvesting tissue and/or transplanting organs and tissues from living donors, the hospital shall develop a living donor organ/transplants policy that addresses the issues related to such donations.(d)Physicians Participating in the Removing or Transplanting of Organs or Tissues. Where the medical staff participates in organ recovery, the hospital shall designate which medical staff members may not participate in the procedures for removing and transplanting of organs and body parts in accordance with the Rules for Anatomical Gifts, Chapter 111-8-5-.08.Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 111-8-40-.27
O.C.G.A. §§ 31-7-2.1 and 44-5-140.
Original Rule entitled "Organ, Tissue, and Eye Procurement and Transplantation" adopted. F. Feb. 20, 2013; eff. Mar. 12, 2013.