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Illinois Anatomical Gift Act - 755 ILCS 50, Section 5-25

Legal Research Home > Illinois Lawyer > Illinois Anatomical Gift Act > Illinois Anatomical Gift Act - 755 ILCS 50, Section 5-25

Notification; consent.

(a) When, based upon generally accepted medical standards, an inpatient in a general acute care hospital with more than 100 beds is a suitable candidate for organ or tissue donation and the patient has not made an anatomical gift of all or any part of his or her body pursuant to Section 5-20 of this Act, the hospital shall proceed in accordance with the requirements of 42 CFR 482.45 or any successor provisions of federal statute or regulation, as may be amended from time to time, and the written agreement between the hospital and the applicable organ procurement agency executed thereunder.

(b) In making a request for organ or tissue donation, the hospital or the hospital's federally designated organ procurement agency or tissue bank shall request any of the following persons, in the order of priority stated in items (1) through (11) below, when persons in prior classes are not available and in the absence of (i) actual notice of contrary intentions by the decedent, (ii) actual notice of opposition by any member within the same priority class, and (iii) reason to believe that an anatomical gift is contrary to the decedent's religious beliefs, to consent to the gift of all or any part of the decedent's body for any purpose specified in Section 5-10 of this Act:

(1) an individual acting as the decedent's agent under a power of attorney for health care; (2) the decedent's surrogate decision maker identified by the attending physician in accordance with the Health Care Surrogate Act; (3) the guardian of the decedent's person at the time of death; (4) the decedent's spouse;

(5) any of the decedent's adult sons or daughters;

(6) either of the decedent's parents;

(7) any of the decedent's adult brothers or sisters;

(8) any adult grandchild of the decedent;

(9) a close friend of the decedent;

(10) the guardian of the decedent's estate; or

(11) any other person authorized or under legal obligation to dispose of the body. (c) If (1) the hospital, the applicable organ procurement agency, or the tissue bank has actual notice of opposition to the gift by the decedent or any person in the highest priority class in which an available person can be found, or (2) there is reason to believe that an anatomical gift is contrary to the decedent's religious beliefs, or (3) the Director of Public Health has adopted a rule signifying his or her determination that the need for organs and tissues for donation has been adequately met, then the gift of all or any part of the decedent's body shall not be requested. If a donation is requested, consent or refusal may be obtained only from the person or persons in the highest priority class available. If the hospital administrator, or his or her designated representative, the designated organ procurement agency, or the tissue bank is unable to obtain consent from any of the persons named in items (1) through (11) of subsection (b) of this Section, the decedent's body shall not be used for an anatomical gift unless a valid anatomical gift document was executed under this Act.

(d) When there is a suitable candidate for organ donation, as described in subsection (a), or if consent to remove organs and tissues is granted, the hospital shall notify the applicable federally designated organ procurement agency. The federally designated organ procurement agency shall notify any tissue bank specified by the hospital of the suitable candidate for tissue donation. The organ procurement agency shall collaborate with all tissue banks in Illinois to maximize tissue procurement in a timely manner.

(Source: P.A. 93-794, eff. 7-22-04.)

Last modified: April 9, 2006