Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act

In 2006, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws approved the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.  According to NCCUSL,

This act revises the earlier 1968 and 1987 Uniform Acts, which are the basis for organ donation throughout the United States. UAGA 2006 is an important update to reflect the current system of allocations of organ for transplant purposes. Without changing the basic concept that an individual may execute a document of gift to donate organs, UAGA 2006 makes the act more usable than the earlier acts are currently.

Four states, Idaho, South Dakota, Utah, and Virginia, have already enacted this statute and it is currently pending in over 20 jurisdictions.

According to Rob Stein, States revising organ-donation law, Washington Post, April 4, 2007,

While praised by transplant advocates, the model law has stirred concern among some doctors and bioethicists. Critics say it could result in people becoming donors or kept on life support against their or their family’s wishes. And some worry that the measure could make doctors more hesitant about administering morphine and other drugs to make dying patients comfortable, for fear of rendering their organs useless for transplantation. * * *

Among many changes, the measure expands the list of people who can consent to an unconscious patient becoming a donor, and makes it clear that a person’s decision to be an organ donor cannot be revoked by anyone else. * * *

The most controversial section deals with unconscious patients who have signed donor cards but also “living wills” or other documents that state that they do not want a ventilator or other medical care to keep them alive, which is sometimes necessary to maintain organ viability until a transplant can take place. Under the act, the donor card trumps the living will, which triggered objections from some bioethicists and doctors who care for critically ill patients. * * *

In response, the commission sent states substitute language that calls for family members or others to be consulted in such situations to try to determine what the donor would have wanted. Those states that have approved the law already, however, will have to wait until next year to amend it.