Maine Revised Statutes Title 22. Health and Welfare § 2950. Manner of making, amending or revoking anatomical gift of decedent's body or part

1. Authorized person: document; oral communication. A person authorized to make an anatomical gift under section 2949 may make an anatomical gift by a document of gift signed by the person making the gift or that person's oral communication that is electronically recorded or is contemporaneously reduced to a record and signed by the individual receiving the oral communication.

2. Amendment or revocation by prior class member. Subject to subsection 3, an anatomical gift by a person authorized under section 2949 may be amended or revoked orally or in a record by any member of a prior class who is reasonably available. If more than one member of the prior class is reasonably available, the gift may be amended or revoked only if a majority of the reasonably available members object to the amending or revoking of the gift or they are equally divided as to whether to amend or revoke an anatomical gift.

3. Revocation effective if known. A revocation under subsection 2 is effective only if the procurement organization or transplant hospital or the physician or technician knows of the revocation before an incision has been made to remove a part from the donor's body or before invasive procedures have begun to prepare the recipient.

4. Requesting consent. Consent for an anatomical gift by a recovery agency under section 2949 must be documented in writing or, if secured in a telephone conversation, in a suitable recording, must disclose in plain language the specific tissue, organ or body part being donated and the purpose for which the anatomical gift will be used and must comply in all respects with rules regarding consent requirements for anatomical gifting adopted by the department pursuant to subsection 5.

5. Rulemaking. The department, after consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, shall adopt rules to implement this section. The rules must provide specific requirements for all recovery agencies, require federally recognized recovery agencies to demonstrate compliance with applicable federal standards governing consent to anatomical gifts and require all other recovery agencies that do not operate under federal regulation to demonstrate adherence to the consent requirements of this section. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.