PART II. ANATOMICAL GIFT ACT

§2351. Definitions

            As used in this Part, the following terms have the following meanings:

            (1) "Adult" means a person who has attained eighteen years of age.

            (2) "Agent" means a person:

            (a) Authorized to make health care decisions on behalf of the principal by a power of attorney for health care; or

            (b) Expressly authorized to make an anatomical gift on behalf of the principal by any other record signed by the principal.

            (3) "Anatomical gift" or "gift" means a donation of all or part of a human body to take effect after the death of the donor for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education.

            (4) "Decedent" means a deceased person whose body or part is or may be the source of an anatomical gift. The term does not include a stillborn infant and, subject to restrictions imposed by law, a fetus.

            (5) "Disinterested witness" means a witness other than the spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandchild, grandparent, or guardian of the person who makes, amends, revokes, or refuses to make an anatomical gift, or an adult who exhibited special care and concern for the person. The term does not include a recipient of an anatomical gift in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 17:2353.

            (6) "Document of gift" means a donor card or other record used to make an anatomical gift. The term includes a statement or symbol on a driver's license, identification card, or donor registry.

            (7) "Donor" means a person whose body or part is the subject of an anatomical gift.

            (8) "Donor registry" means a database that contains records of anatomical gifts and amendments to or revocations thereof.

            (9) "Driver's license" means a license or permit issued by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles, to operate a vehicle, whether or not conditions are attached to the license or permit.

            (10) "Eye bank" means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of human eyes or portions of human eyes.

            (11) "Guardian" means a person appointed by a court to make decisions regarding the support, care, education, health, or welfare of a person. The term does not include a guardian ad litem.

            (12) "Hospital" means a facility licensed as a hospital under the laws of any state or a facility operated as a hospital by the United States, a state, or a subdivision of a state.

            (13) "Identification card" means a card issued by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles.

            (14) "Know" means to have actual knowledge.

            (15) "Minor" means a person who has not yet attained eighteen years of age.

            (16) "Organ procurement organization" means a person designated by the secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services as an eye bank, organ procurement organization, or tissue bank.

            (17) "Parent" means a person whose parental rights have not been terminated.

            (18) "Part" means an organ, an eye, or tissue of a human being. The term does not include the whole body.

            (19) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.

            (20) "Physician" means a person authorized and licensed to practice medicine or osteopathy under the laws of any state.

            (21) "Prospective donor" means a person who is dead or near death and has been determined by a procurement organization to have a part that may be medically suitable for transplantation, therapy, research, or education. The term does not include a person who has made a refusal.

            (22) "Reasonably available" means able to be contacted by a procurement organization without undue effort and willing and able to act in a timely manner consistent with existing medical criteria necessary for the making of an anatomical gift.

            (23) "Recipient" means a person into whose body a part of a decedent has been or is intended to be transplanted.

            (24) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

            (25) "Refusal" means a record created pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 17:2354.1 that expressly states an intent to bar other persons from making an anatomical gift of a body or part of a person.

            (26) "Sign" means, with the present intent to authenticate or adopt a record either:

            (a) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol.

            (b) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.

            (27) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

            (28) "Technician" means any individual determined to be qualified to remove or process parts by an appropriate organization that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law. The term includes an enucleator.

            (29) "Tissue" means a portion of the human body other than an organ or an eye. The term does not include blood unless the blood is donated for the purpose of research or education.

            (30) "Tissue bank" means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of tissue.

            (31) "Transplant hospital" means a hospital that furnishes organ transplants and other medical and surgical specialty services required for the care of transplant patients.

            Acts 1968, No. 651, §1. Amended by Acts 1976, No. 357, §2; Acts 1997, No. 99, §1, eff. June 11, 1997; Acts 2010, No. 937, §2, eff. July 1, 2010; Acts 2022, No. 374, §1.