Nebraska Revised Statute 71-4825

Chapter 71

71-4825.

Terms, defined.

For purposes of the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act:

(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 anatomical gift on the principal's behalf by any other record signed by the principal;

(3) Anatomical gift means a donation of all or part of a human body to take effect after the donor's death for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education;

(4) Decedent means a deceased individual whose body or part is or may be the source of an anatomical gift. The term includes a stillborn infant and, subject to restrictions imposed by law other than the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, a fetus. The term decedent does not include a blastocyst, embryo, or fetus that is the subject of an induced abortion;

(5) Disinterested witness means a witness other than the spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandchild, grandparent, or guardian of the individual who makes, amends, revokes, or refuses to make an anatomical gift, or another adult who exhibited special care and concern for the individual. The term does not include a person to which an anatomical gift could pass under section 71-4834;

(6) Document of gift means a donor card or other record used to make an anatomical gift. The term includes a statement or symbol on a driver's license, identification card, or donor registry;

(7) Donor means an individual whose body or part is the subject of an anatomical gift;

(8) Donor registry means a database that contains records of anatomical gifts and amendments to or revocations of anatomical gifts;

(9) Driver's license means a license or permit issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles to operate a vehicle, whether or not conditions are attached to the license or permit;

(10) Eye bank means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of human eyes or portions of human eyes;

(11) Guardian means a person appointed by a court to make decisions regarding the support, care, education, health, or welfare of an individual. The term does not include a guardian ad litem;

(12) Hospital means a facility licensed as a hospital under the law of any state or a facility operated as a hospital by the United States, a state, or a subdivision of a state;

(13) Identification card means a state identification card issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles;

(14) Know means to have actual knowledge;

(15) Minor means an individual who is under eighteen years of age;

(16) Organ procurement organization means a person designated by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services as an organ procurement organization;

(17) Parent means a parent whose parental rights have not been terminated;

(18) Part means an organ, an eye, or tissue of a human being. The term does not include the whole body;

(19) Person means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity;

(20) Physician means an individual authorized to practice medicine or osteopathy under the law of any state;

(21) Procurement organization means an eye bank, organ procurement organization, or tissue bank;

(22) Prospective donor means an individual who is dead or near death and has been determined by a procurement organization to have a part that could be medically suitable for transplantation, therapy, research, or education. The term does not include an individual who has made a refusal;

(23) Reasonably available means able to be contacted by a procurement organization without undue effort and willing and able to act in a timely manner consistent with existing medical criteria necessary for the making of an anatomical gift;

(24) Recipient means an individual into whose body a decedent's part has been or is intended to be transplanted;

(25) Record means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;

(26) Refusal means a record created under section 71-4830 that expressly states an intent to bar other persons from making an anatomical gift of an individual's body or part;

(27) Sign means, with the present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:

(A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or

(B) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process;

(28) State means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;

(29) Technician means an individual determined to be qualified to remove or process parts by an appropriate organization that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law. The term includes an enucleator;

(30) Tissue means a portion of the human body other than an organ or an eye. The term does not include blood unless the blood is donated for the purpose of research or education;

(31) Tissue bank means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of tissue; and

(32) Transplant hospital means a hospital that furnishes organ transplants and other medical and surgical specialty services required for the care of transplant patients.