R.A. 7170

• DATE OF APPROVAL

  JANUARY 7, 1992
• TERM: CORAZON C. AQUINO
• SECTIONS: 19
• ORGAN DONATION ACT OF 1991


  An act authorizing the legacy or donation of all or part of a human body after death for specified purposes
• Death


  The irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or the irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem
• 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 patients. The death shall be recorded in the patient's medical record.
• Person who may execute a legacy


  Any individual, at least eighteen (18) years of age and 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

  • Spouse
  • Son or daughter of legal age
  • Either parent
  • Brother or sister of legal age
  • Guardian over the person of the decedent at the time of his death
• The persons authorized by sub-section (a) of this section may make the donation after or immediately before death.
• 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.
• Persons who may become legatees or donees

  • Any hospital, physician or surgeon
  • Any accredited medical or dental school, college or university
  • Any organ bank storage facility
  • Any specified individual
• Purposes for which legatees or donees may receive human bodies or parts

  Medical or dental education, research, advancement of medical or dental science, therapy or transplantation
• Manner of executing a legacy

  1. Legacy may be made by will

  2. Legacy may be made in any document other than a will

  3. Legacy may be made to a specified legatee or without specifying a legatee

  4. Testator may designate the surgeon or physician who will carry out the appropriate procedures
• 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.
• If the legacy or donation is made to a specified legatee or donee, the will, card or other document, or an executed copy thereof, may be delivered by the testator or donor, or his authorized representative, to the legatee or donee to expedite the appropriate procedures immediately after death.
• Amendment or revocation of legacy or donation

  1. If the will, card or other document, or an executed copy thereof, has been delivered to a specific legatee or donee, the testator or donor may amend or revoke the legacy or donation in various ways

  2. Any will, card or other document, or an executed copy thereof, which has not been delivered to the legatee or donee may be revoked in various ways

  3. Any legacy made by a will may also be amended or revoked in the manner provided for amendment or revocation of wills, or as provided in subsection (a) of this section
• Rights and duties after death

  • The legatee or donee may accept or reject the legacy or donation
  • If the legacy or 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
  • Any person who acts in good faith in accordance with the terms of this Act shall not be liable for damages in any civil action or subject to prosecution in any criminal proceeding of this Act
• Sharing of human organs or tissues shall be made only through exchange programs duly approved by the Department of Health: Provided, that foreign organ or tissue bank storage facilities and similar establishments grant reciprocal rights to their Philippine counterparts to draw human organs or tissues at any time.
• In order that the public will obtain the maximum benefits from this Act, the Department of Health, in cooperation with institutions, such as the National Kidney Institute, civic and non-government health organizations and other health related agencies, involved in the donation and transplantation of human organs, shall undertake a public information program.
• The Secretary of Health shall endeavor to persuade all health professionals, both government and private, to make an appeal for human organ donation.
• The Secretary of Health, after consultation with all health professionals, both government and private, and non-government health organizations shall promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary or proper to implement this Act.
• A legacy or 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.

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

  Organ bank storage facility
• A deceased individual, and includes a still-born infant or fetus

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

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

  Donor
• A hospital licensed, accredited or approved under the law, and includes a hospital operated by the government

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

  Part
• 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

  Person
• A physician or surgeon licensed or authorized to practice medicine under the laws of the Republic of the Philippines

  Physician/Surgeon
• The persons enumerated in Section 4(a) of the act

  “Immediate family” of the decedent