RA 7170 Organ donation act of 1991

• RA 7170 ORGAN DONATION ACT OF 1991
• Organ bank storage facility


  A facility licensed, accredited or approved under the law for storage of human bodies or parts thereof
• Decedent


  A deceased individual, and includes a still-born infant or fetus
• Testator


  An individual who makes a legacy of all or part of his body
• Donor


  An individual authorized under this Act to donate all or part of the body of a decedent
• Hospital


  A hospital licensed, accredited or approval under the law, and includes, a hospital operated by the Government
• Part


  Includes transplantable organs, tissues, eyes, bones, arteries, blood, other fluids and other portions of the human body
• Person


  An individual, corporation, estate, trust, partnership, association, the Government or any of its subdivisions, agencies or instrumentalities, including government-owned or -controlled corporations; or any other legal entity
• Physician or Surgeon


  A licensed or authorized to practice medicine under the laws of the Republic of the Philippines
• Immediate family


  The persons enumerated in Section 4(a) of this Act
• Death


  A person shall be medically and legally dead if: 1) In the opinion of the attending physician: there is an absence of natural respiratory and cardiac functions, 2) In the opinion of the consulting physician: irreversible cessation of all brain functions
• The death of the person shall be determined in accordance with the acceptable standards of medical practice and shall be diagnosed separately by the attending physician and another consulting physician, both of whom must be appropriately qualified and suitably experienced in the care of such parties. The death shall be recorded in the patient's medical record.
• Examination of a human body or part thereof

  1. A legacy of donation of all or part of a human body authorizes any examination necessary to assure medical acceptability of the legacy or donation for the purpose(s) intended

  2. For purposes of this Act, an autopsy shall be conducted on the cadaver of accident, trauma, or other medico-legal cases immediately after the pronouncement of death, to determine qualified and healthy human organs for transplantation and/or in furtherance of medical science
• Duty of hospitals

  • A hospital authorized to receive organ donations or to conduct transplantation shall train qualified personnel and their staff to handle the task of introducing the organ donation program in a humane and delicate manner to the relatives of the donor-decedent
  • The hospital shall accomplish the necessary form or document as proof of compliance with the above requirement
• Rights and duties after death

  • The legatee or donee may accept or reject the legacy or donation as the case may be
  • If the legacy of donation is of a part of the body, the legatee or donee, upon the death of the testator and prior to embalming, shall effect the removal of the part, avoiding unnecessary mutilation
• PERSON WHO MAY EXECUTE A LEGACY (Any individual)

  • at least eighteen (18) years of age
  • of sound mind,
  • may give by way of legacy, to take effect after his death, all or part of his body for any purpose specified in Section 6 hereof.
• PERSON WHO MAY EXECUTE A DONATION A. In the absence of actual notice of contrary intentions by the decedent or actual notice of opposition by a member of the immediate family of the decedent: 1.Spouse; 2.Son or daughter of legal age; 3.Either parent; 4.Brother or sister of legal age; or Guardian over the person of the decedent at the time of his death.
• Manner of executing the legacy

  • Made by will,
  • May also be made in any document other than a will,
  • The legacy may be made to a specified legatee or without specifying a legatee,
  • The testator may designate in his will, card or other document, the surgeon or physician who will carry out the appropriate procedures
• By will.

  • legacy becomes effective upon the death of the testator without waiting for probate
  • If the will is not probated,or if it is declared invalid for testamentary purposes, the legacy, to the extent that it was executed in good faith, is nevertheless valid and effective.
• may also be made in any document other than a will

  • legacy becomes effective upon death of the testator
  • shall be respected by and binding upon his executor or administrator, heirs, assigns, successors-in-interest and all members of the family
  • The document, which may be a card or any paper designed to be carried on a person, must be signed by the testator in the presence of two witnesses who must sign the document in his presence.
• If the legacy is made to a specified legatee who is not available at the time and place of the testator's death, the attending physician or surgeon, in the absence of any expressed indication that the testator desired otherwise, may accept the legacy as legatee.
• In the absence of a designation, or if the designee is not available, the legatee or other persons authorized to accept the legacy may authorize any surgeon or physician for the purpose.
• Any donation by a person authorized specified shall be sufficient if it complies with the formalities of a donation of a movable property.
• In the absence of any of the persons specified and in the absence of any document of organ donation the following may authorize in a public document the removal from such body:

  • the physician in charge of the patient
  • the head of the hospital
  • a designated officer of the hospital who has custody of the body of the deceased
• The physician, head of hospital or officer designated by the hospital for this purpose has exerted reasonable efforts, within forty-eight (48) hours, to locate the nearest relative listed in Section 4 hereof or guardian of the decedent at the time of death.
• In all donations, the death of a person from whose body an organ will be removed after his death for the purpose of transplantation to a living person, shall be diagnosed separately and certified by two (2) qualified physicians neither of whom should be: (a) A member of the team of medical practitioners who will effect the removal of the organ from the body; nor (b) The physician attending to the receipt of the organ to be removed; nor (c) The head of hospital or the designated officer authorizing the removal of the organ.
• Only authorized medical practitioners in a hospital shall remove and/or transplant any organ which is authorized to be removed and/or transplanted pursuant to Section 5 hereof.
• DELIVERY OF DOCUMENT OF LEGACY OR DONATION

  • testator or donor, or its authorized representative, to the legatee or donee to expedite the appropriate procedures immediately after death
  • may be deposited in any hospital or organ bank storage facility that accepts it for safekeeping or for facilitation or procedures after death
  • the person in possession shall produce the document of legacy or donation for verification upon or after the testator's death.
• AMENDMENT OR REVOCATION OF LEGACY OR DONATION

  1. execution and delivery to the legatee or donee of a signed statement to that effect
  2. oral statement to that effect made in the presence of two other persons and communicated to the legatee or donee
  3. A statement to that effect during a terminal illness or injury addressed to an attending physician and communicated to the legatee or donee
  4. A signed card or document to that effect found on the person or effects of the testator or donor.
• AMENDMENT OR REVOCATION OF LEGACY OR DONATION Any will, card or other document, or an executed copy which has not been delivered to the legatee or donee 1.may be revoked by the testator or donor in the manner or by destruction, cancellation or mutilation of the document and all executed copies 2. Any legacy made by a will may also be amended or revoked in the manner provided for amendment or revocation of wills
• RIGHTS AND DUTIES AFTER DEATH The legatee or donee may accept or reject the legacy or donation as the case may be.

  • If the legacy of donation is of a part of the body, the legatee or donee, upon the death of the testator and prior to embalming, shall effect the removal of the part, avoiding unnecessary mutilation.