Coroners: anatomical gifts.

Existing law sets forth the duties and authority of a county coroner, including asking the deceased person's next of kin, at the time of notification of death, whether the deceased was a donor or a donor family and, if not, informing the next of kin of their option to donate viable parts. This bill would make it the duty of the procurement organization, upon referral, to inform the appropriate person of the donor's gift, or the appropriate person's ability to make an anatomical gift. Existing law authorizes the coroner to retain parts of the body removed at the time of autopsy or acquired during a coroner's investigation for scientific investigation and training and to release those parts to hospitals, medical educational research institutions, and law enforcement agencies for noncoroner training, educational, and research purposes with consent or after a reasonable effort has been made to inform a person with authority over the remains, as specified. This bill would require a reasonable effort to locate a person with authority over the remains to include fingerprinting, as specified, and would require the coroner to assist a procurement organization in the search for a person authorized to make an anatomical gift. Existing law requires a county coroner to cooperate with procurement organizations to maximize the opportunity to recover anatomical gifts and requires the coroner or designee to conduct a post mortem examination or investigation of the body or the part in a manner and within a period compatible with its preservation for the purposes of the gift if the body is under the jurisdiction of the coroner and a post mortem examination or investigation is going to be performed. Existing law provides the method by which the coroner may release or restrict release of an anatomical gift to the procurement organization. This bill would authorize the coroner or designee to attend the recovery procedure if they cannot complete the examination prior to recovery of the gift and would require the county coroner to cause a licensed forensic pathologist to be present at the recovery procedure in order to restrict recovery of a donated part. By placing a new requirement on county coroners, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a procurement organization to develop a protocol for organ recovery that provides sufficient information on the medical and injury status of the deceased to permit release and removal of organs without undue prejudice to the coroner's investigation of, or inquiry into, the cause of death. Existing law makes the protocol subject to the approval of the coroner or medical examiner and requires that it provide specified information, including the organs requested and a brief description of the alleged circumstances surrounding the death, to the extent they are known. This bill would, instead, authorize the procurement organization and the county coroner to establish a collaborative procurement protocol for anatomical gifts and would authorize that protocol to delineate items of information that may be provided by the procurement organization to the coroner and to identify a liaison with the coroner's office who shall be available 24 hours per day, seven days a week, for the receipt of that information. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.