---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-5-159.1. Cooperation between medical examiners and procurement organizations.
collection: code
id: 44-5-159.1
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-5-159.1 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-5-159.1
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-5-159.1.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-5-159.1/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch1-7-(v31)-2010-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=35dd922f_0#page=512
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: PROPERTY / ACQUISITION AND LOSS OF PROPERTY / REVISED UNIFORM ANATOMICAL GIFTS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-5-159.1. Cooperation between medical examiners and procurement organizations.

(a) A medical examiner and procurement organizations shall cooperate with each other to maximize the opportunity to recover anatomical gifts for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education.

(b) If a medical examiner receives notice from a procurement organization that an anatomical gift might be available or was made with respect to a decedent whose body is under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner and a postmortem examination is going to be performed, unless the medical examiner denies recovery in accordance with Code Section 44-5-159.2, the medical examiner or designee shall conduct, when practicable, a postmortem examination of the body or the part in a manner and within a period compatible with its preservation for the purposes of the gift. The date and location of such examinations shall occur as specified in the agreement as provided for in subsection (e) of Code Section 44-5-159.2.

(c) A part may not be removed from the body of a decedent under the jurisdiction of a medical examiner for transplantation, therapy, research, or education unless the part is the subject of an anatomical gift. The body of a decedent under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner may not be delivered to a person for research or education unless the body is the subject of an anatomical gift. This subsection shall not preclude a medical examiner from performing the medicolegal autopsy upon the body or parts of a decedent under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner or from using the body or parts of a decedent under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner for the purposes of education, training, and research required by the medical examiner.

## History

Code 1981, § 44-5-159.1, enacted by Ga. L. 2008, p. 503, § 1/SB 405.