By:  Ellis                                            S.B. No. 1145
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to clarification of the procedures for organ donation.
    1-2        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-3        SECTION 1.  Subsections (f), (g), and (h), Section 11B,
    1-4  Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th Legislature, Regular Session, 1941
    1-5  (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to read
    1-6  as follows:
    1-7        (f)  <If a person listed in Section 692.004, Health and
    1-8  Safety Code, cannot be identified and contacted within four hours
    1-9  after death is pronounced and the medical examiner determines that
   1-10  no reasonable likelihood exists that a person can be identified and
   1-11  contacted during the four-hour period, the medical examiner may
   1-12  permit the removal of a visceral organ or tissue.  In this
   1-13  subsection, "visceral organ" means the heart, kidney, liver, or
   1-14  other organ or tissue that requires a patient support system to
   1-15  maintain the viability of the organ or tissue.>
   1-16        <(g)>  A person who performs in good faith in carrying out
   1-17  this section is not civilly or criminally liable for the person's
   1-18  good-faith efforts to comply with this section.  The legislature
   1-19  recognizes that because swiftness of action is required in organ
   1-20  and tissue donation situations, good-faith errors are preferable to
   1-21  delay as a matter of public policy.
   1-22        (g) <(h)>  A person who is not applying for the issuance,
   1-23  renewal, reinstatement, or replacement of a driver's license or
    2-1  personal identification card but who wishes to execute or revoke a
    2-2  statement of gift symbolized on the person's license or card may
    2-3  apply to the Department for an amendment to the license or card and
    2-4  pay a fee in the amount of a duplicate fee.
    2-5        SECTION 2.  Section 692.004, Health and Safety Code, is
    2-6  amended to read as follows:
    2-7        Sec. 692.004.  Persons Who May Execute Gift.  (a)  The
    2-8  following persons, in the following priority, may consent or object
    2-9  to giving <give> all or any part of a decedent's body for a purpose
   2-10  specified by Section 692.005:
   2-11              (1)  the decedent's spouse;
   2-12              (2)  the decedent's adult child;
   2-13              (3)  either of the decedent's parents;
   2-14              (4)  the decedent's adult brother or sister;
   2-15              (5)  the guardian of the person of the decedent at the
   2-16  time of death; or
   2-17              (6)  any other person authorized or under an obligation
   2-18  to dispose of the body.
   2-19        (b)  A person listed in Subsection (a) may make the gift only
   2-20  if:
   2-21              (1)  a person in a higher priority class is not
   2-22  available at the time of death;
   2-23              (2)  there is no actual notice of contrary indications
   2-24  by the decedent; and
   2-25              (3)  there is no actual notice of opposition by a
    3-1  member of the same or a higher priority class.
    3-2        (c)  A person listed in Subsection (a) may make the gift
    3-3  after death or immediately before death.  The person must make the
    3-4  gift by a document signed by the person or by a telegraphic,
    3-5  recorded telephonic, or other recorded message.
    3-6        (d)  If a person listed in Subsection (a) cannot be
    3-7  identified and contacted within four hours after death is
    3-8  pronounced, the medical examiner shall permit a qualified organ or
    3-9  tissue procurement organization, as defined in Section 692.002(8),
   3-10  to remove the decedent's organs or tissue, if clinically usable for
   3-11  transplants or other therapy or treatment.
   3-12        SECTION 3.  Section 693.002, Health and Safety Code, is
   3-13  amended to read as follows:
   3-14        Sec. 693.002.  REMOVAL OF BODY PART OR TISSUE FROM DECEDENT
   3-15  WHO DIED <PERMITTED> UNDER <CERTAIN> CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRING AN
   3-16  INQUEST.  (a)  On a request from a qualified organ or tissue
   3-17  procurement organization, as defined in Section 692.002(8) <Texas
   3-18  nonprofit medical facility that performs organ transplants or a
   3-19  nonprofit organization or corporation that procures organs or
   3-20  tissues for transplantation>, the medical examiner shall <may>
   3-21  permit the removal of organs and/or tissue believed <eyes, heart,
   3-22  skin, bone, liver, kidney, or pancreas and other tissue proven> to
   3-23  be clinically usable for transplants or other therapy or treatment
   3-24  from a <if:>
   3-25              <(1)  the> decedent who <from whom the body part or
    4-1  tissue is to be removed> died under circumstances requiring an
    4-2  inquest by the medical examiner if<;>
    4-3              <(2)>  consent is given as required by Section 693.003
    4-4  or, if consent is not required by that section, no objection by a
    4-5  person listed in Section 692.004 <693.004> is known by the medical
    4-6  examiner<; and>
    4-7              <(3)  the removal of the body part or tissue will not
    4-8  interfere with the subsequent course of an investigation or
    4-9  autopsy>.
   4-10        (b)  If no autopsy is required, any organ or tissue to be
   4-11  transplanted shall be released in a timely manner to the qualified
   4-12  organ or tissue procurement organization, as defined in Section
   4-13  692.002(8), for removal and transplantation.
   4-14        (c)  If an autopsy is required, the medical examiner shall
   4-15  perform an autopsy or analysis of any organ or tissue in a manner
   4-16  and within a time period compatible with the preservation of the
   4-17  organ or tissue for the purposes of transplantation.  Any such
   4-18  organ or tissue shall be released in a timely manner for removal
   4-19  and transplantation.
   4-20        (d)  A health care professional authorized to remove organs
   4-21  or tissue from a decedent may remove any organ or tissue prior to
   4-22  completion of an autopsy or analysis of the organ or tissue by the
   4-23  medical examiner as provided in Subsection (c).
   4-24        (e)  If the autopsy is not undertaken in a manner and within
   4-25  a time period compatible with preservation of any organ or tissue
    5-1  for transplantation, a health care professional authorized to
    5-2  remove the organs or tissue may remove the organs or tissue on
    5-3  notice to the person performing the autopsy.  The medical examiner
    5-4  or his authorized deputy may be present during the removal of any
    5-5  organ or tissue.
    5-6        (f)  The health care professional removing any organ or
    5-7  tissue from a decedent who died under circumstances requiring an
    5-8  inquest shall file with the medical examiner a report detailing the
    5-9  condition of the organs or tissue removed and its relationship, if
   5-10  any, to the cause of death.  The report shall become part of the
   5-11  medical examiner's report.
   5-12        SECTION 4.  Section 693.003, Health and Safety Code, is
   5-13  amended to read as follows:
   5-14        Sec. 693.003.  CONSENT REQUIRED IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.
   5-15  <(a)>  A medical examiner or a person acting on the authority of a
   5-16  medical examiner may not remove an <a visceral> organ or tissue
   5-17  unless the medical examiner or person obtains <the> consent
   5-18  pursuant to Section 692.004 <of a person listed in Section
   5-19  693.004>.
   5-20        <(b)  If a person listed in Section 693.004 is known and
   5-21  available within four hours after death is pronounced, a medical
   5-22  examiner or a person acting on the authority of a medical examiner
   5-23  may not remove a nonvisceral organ or tissue unless the medical
   5-24  examiner or person obtains that person's consent.>
   5-25        <(c)  If a person listed in Section 693.004 cannot be
    6-1  identified and contacted within four hours after death is
    6-2  pronounced and the medical examiner determines that no reasonable
    6-3  likelihood exists that a person can be identified and contacted
    6-4  during the four-hour period, the medical examiner may permit the
    6-5  removal of a nonvisceral organ or tissue.>
    6-6        SECTION 5.  Section 693.004, Health and Safety Code, is
    6-7  repealed.
    6-8        SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    6-9        SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
   6-10  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   6-11  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   6-12  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   6-13  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.