Court Opinions

(a) Any individual of sound mind who has attained the age of 18 may give all or any part of his or her body for any purpose specified in Section 5-10. Such a gift may be executed in any of the ways set out in Section 5-20, and shall take effect upon the individual's death without the need to obtain the consent of any survivor. An anatomical gift made by an agent of an individual, as authorized by the individual under the Powers of Attorney for Health Care Law, as now or hereafter amended, is deemed to be a gift by that individual and takes effect without the need to obtain the consent of any other person.

(b) If no gift has been executed under subsection (a), 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 for the giving of consent or refusal and in the absence of (i) actual notice of contrary intentions by the decedent and (ii) actual notice of opposition by any member within the same priority class, may consent to give all or any part of the decedent's body after or immediately before death to a person who may become a donee for any purpose specified in Section 5-10:

(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,

(11) any other person authorized or under legal obligation to dispose of the body. If the donee 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, then no gift of all or any part of the decedent's body shall be accepted.

(c) A gift of all or part of a body authorizes any examination necessary to assure medical acceptability of the gift for the purposes intended.

(d) The rights of the donee created by the gift are paramount to the rights of others except as provided by Section 5-45(d).

(e) If no gift has been executed under this Act, then no part of the decedent's body may be used for any purpose specified in this Act.

(Source: P.A. 92-349, eff. 1-1-02; 93-794, eff. 7-22-04.)

Last modified: April 9, 2006

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

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