By: Huffman S.B. No. 1186

(In the Senate - Filed March 6, 2013; March 12, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on Health and Human Services; April 8, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 8, 2013, sent to printer.)

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1186 By: Huffman

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the use by a medical examiner of certain medical waste and autopsy records.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Article 49.25, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended by adding Section 13B to read as follows:

Sec. 13B. EDUCATION AND RESEARCH. (a) For purposes of this section, "medical waste" has the meaning assigned to the term "special waste from health care-related facilities" by Department of State Health Services rule, except that the term does not include:

(1) waste produced on a farm or ranch as defined by Section 151.316, Tax Code; or

(2) artificial, nonhuman materials removed from a patient and requested by the patient, including orthopedic devices and breast implants.

(b) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a medical examiner may use tissue that is removed from a body during an autopsy to perform educational, diagnostic, or research activities after the autopsy is completed if the tissue is medical waste. These activities may be conducted in collaboration with a nationally recognized research or educational institution. Tissue that is used must be anonymized in accordance with applicable federal research standards.

(c) Research activities conducted in collaboration with a nationally recognized research or educational institution must be reviewed, in each case, by an institutional review board for compliance with applicable state and federal law, including laws requiring informed consent and anonymization of tissue and prohibiting the sale of body parts.

(d) A medical examiner may not use tissue under Subsection (b) to perform educational, diagnostic, or research activities after the autopsy is completed unless informed consent has been obtained from the decedent or a guardian, next of kin, or person authorized to make an anatomical gift of the decedent's body under Section 692A.009, Health and Safety Code. Informed consent for use of the tissue is not required if at the completion of the autopsy and release of the body the decedent does not have a known guardian, next of kin, or person authorized to make an anatomical gift of the decedent's body. In the event the overseeing medical examiner or medical examiner's office is unable to contact the decedent's guardian, next of kin, or a person who is authorized to make an anatomical gift of the decedent's body within 90 days of the decedent's death, informed consent for use of the tissue is not required.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.

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