Title 44, Health

(A) A person may lawfully donate blood if he is: (1) at least seventeen years of age; or (2) sixteen years of age and has the written consent of his parent or guardian. (B) A person under eighteen years of age may not sell blood.

Whenever a person applies for the issuance, reissuance, or renewal of any class of driver's license, the Department of Motor Vehicles is authorized to furnish that person with a form, sufficient under the provisions of Article 5, the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, for the g…

This article may be cited as the "Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act".

As used in this article: (1) "Adult" means an individual who is at least eighteen years of age. (2) "Agent" means an individual: (a) authorized to make health care decisions on the principal's behalf by a power of attorney for health care; or (b) expressly authorized to make an a…

This article applies to an anatomical gift or amendment to, revocation of, or refusal to make an anatomical gift, whenever made.

Subject to Section 44-43-335, an anatomical gift of a donor's body or part may be made during the life of the donor for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education in the manner provided in Section 44-43-320 by: (1) the donor, if the donor is an adult or if th…

(A) A donor may make an anatomical gift: (1) by authorizing a statement or symbol indicating that the donor has made an anatomical gift to be imprinted on the donor's driver's license or identification card; (2) in a will; (3) during a terminal illness or injury of the donor, by …

(A) Subject to Section 44-43-335, a donor or other person authorized to make an anatomical gift under Section 44-43-315 may amend or revoke an anatomical gift by: (1) a record signed by: (a) the donor; (b) the other person; or (c) subject to subsection (B), another individual act…

(A) An individual may refuse to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part by: (1) a record signed by: (a) the individual; or (b) subject to subsection (B), another individual acting at the direction of the individual if the individual is physically unable to sign; …

(A) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (G) and subject to subsection (F), in the absence of an express, contrary indication by the donor, a person other than the donor is barred from making, amending, or revoking an anatomical gift of a donor's body or part if the donor m…

(A) Subject to subsections (B) and (C) and unless barred by Section 44-43-330 or 44-43-335, an anatomical gift of a decedent's body or part for purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education may be made by any member of the following classes of persons who is reasona…

(A) A person authorized to make an anatomical gift under Section 44-43-340 may make an anatomical gift by a document of gift signed by the person making the gift or by that person's oral communication that is electronically recorded or is contemporaneously reduced to a record and…

(A) An anatomical gift may be made to the following persons named in the document of gift: (1) a hospital; accredited medical school, dental school, college, or university; organ procurement organization; or other appropriate person, for research or education; (2) subject to subs…

(A) A person who finds or is in possession of a document of gift or of refusal that was executed by an individual who the person reasonably believes is dead or near death shall, if the individual is taken to a hospital, send the document of gift or refusal to the hospital. (B) A …

(A) A document of gift need not be delivered during the donor's lifetime to be effective. (B) Upon or after an individual's death, a person in possession of a document of gift or a refusal to make an anatomical gift with respect to the individual shall allow examination and copyi…

(A) When a hospital refers an individual at or near death to a procurement organization, the organization shall cause a reasonable search to be made of the records of the South Carolina Organ and Tissue Donor Registry to ascertain whether the individual has made an anatomical gif…

Each hospital in this State shall enter into agreements or affiliations with procurement organizations for coordination of procurement and use of anatomical gifts.

(A) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (B), a person that for valuable consideration, knowingly purchases or sells a part for transplantation or therapy if removal of a part from an individual is intended to occur after the individual's death commits a felony and, upon co…

A person that, in order to obtain a financial gain, intentionally falsifies, forges, conceals, defaces, or obliterates a document of gift, an amendment or revocation of a document of gift, or a refusal commits a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than fifty thous…

(A) A person that acts in good faith in accord with the terms of this article, or under the anatomical gift laws of another state, is not liable for damages in any civil action or subject to prosecution in any criminal proceeding for his act. However, immunity from civil liabilit…

(A) A document of gift is valid if executed in accordance with: (1) this article; (2) the laws of the state or country where it was executed; or (3) the laws of the state or country where the person making the anatomical gift was domiciled, has a place of residence, or was a nati…

(A) For purposes of this section: (1) "Advance health care directive" means a power of attorney for health care or a record signed or authorized by a prospective donor containing the prospective donor's direction concerning a health care decision for the prospective donor. (2) "D…

Donations and gifts of all or part of a person's body made at the time of application, issuance, reissuance, or renewal of a driver's license pursuant to this chapter must be noted on the person's driver's license. After a driver's license has been issued, reissued, or renewed, t…

(A) A coroner shall cooperate with procurement organizations to maximize the opportunity to recover anatomical gifts for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education. (B) A part may not be removed from the body of a decedent under the jurisdiction of a coroner …

(A) Upon request of a procurement organization, a coroner shall release to the procurement organization the name, contact information, and available medical and social history of a decedent whose body is under the jurisdiction of the coroner. If the decedent's body or part is med…

In applying and construing this uniform act, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it. This article must be liberally construed to effectuate the wishes of the donor.

This article modifies, limits, and supersedes the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 7001, et seq., but does not modify, limit, or supersede Section 101(A) of that act, 15 U.S.C. Section 7001, or authorize electronic delivery of any of th…

This act may be cited as the Uniform Determination of Death Act.

An individual who has sustained irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem, is dead. A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted medical standards.

The Department of Motor Vehicles, its officers, and employees are immune from any civil liability for any acts or omissions in carrying out the provisions of Section 44-43-40.

The faculty members of the departments of anatomy and surgery of the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina, School of Medicine, or any other colleges or schools of this State authorized by law to teach medical science and issue diplomas, consti…

The board may adopt rules and promulgate regulations for its government and the proper discharge of its functions. The board shall keep a record of its proceedings and particularly of all bodies received and distributed. These records must be open at all times to the inspection o…

Each officer, agent, and servant of every city in the State and of every almshouse, prison, morgue, hospital, jail, or other public institution in cities having charge or control of any dead human body that is required to be buried at the public expense and every officer or other…

Notice is not required to be given and a body must not be delivered if a person claiming to be, and satisfying the authorities in charge of the body that he is, of kin or related by marriage to the deceased claims the body for burial and pays the burial expenses; and notice is no…

The bodies received must be distributed by the board to and among medical colleges and schools of the State and physicians and surgeons as the board may designate. The colleges and schools first must be supplied with bodies needed for lectures and demonstration. The remaining bod…

The board may employ a carrier or carriers for conveyance of bodies, which must be well enclosed in a suitable case and carefully deposited, free from public observation. Every carrier shall obtain a receipt by name or, if the person be unknown, by a description for each body del…

(A) It is unlawful for a person to sell or buy a dead human body or in any way to traffic in dead human bodies. (B) A person who violates subsection (A) is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than two hundred dollars or, in the discretion of the c…

If a person fails or refuses to perform any duty imposed upon him by this article the person must, for every failure or refusal, be fined not less than one hundred or more than five hundred dollars.

This article may be cited as the Bone Marrow Donor Act.

(A) Bone marrow donor programs are established within the Medical University of South Carolina and within the University of South Carolina, School of Medicine. The purpose of each program is to educate citizens of the State about: (1) the need for bone marrow donors; (2) the proc…

A pathologist or a licensed physician or surgeon may conduct a postmortem examination on a dead human body when consent is given in writing by the person prior to his death or when consent is given by the spouse of the deceased; but if the spouse at the time of death was living a…

(A) Except for an autopsy or postmortem examination ordered by a coroner or medical examiner, no autopsy or postmortem examination may be performed unless the person authorizing the autopsy or postmortem examination has given informed consent to the procedure. The person giving t…

If a patient dies in a hospital or a health care facility where invasive surgical procedures are performed, the person authorized to consent, as determined in accordance with Section 44-43-710, has the right to have an autopsy performed. The hospital or health care facility where…

(A) An employer may grant paid leaves of absence to an employee who seeks to undergo a medical procedure to donate bone marrow. As used in this section, "employer" means a person or entity that employs twenty or more employees at least at one site within this State and includes a…

As used in this article: (1) "Hospital" means a hospital licensed, accredited, or approved under the laws of this State and includes a hospital operated by the United States or the State or its subdivisions, although not required to be licensed under state law. (2) "Potential org…

A hospital shall establish policies on organ and tissue donation, as well as on related continuing education, in accordance with applicable federal and state laws and regulations.