A. The Office of the Chief 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 the Office of the Chief 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 Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and a postmortem examination is going to be performed, unless the Chief Medical Examiner or an Assistant Chief Medical Examiner denies recovery in accordance with § 32.1-291.23, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner shall, when practicable, cause a postmortem examination of the body or the part to be conducted in a manner and within a period compatible with its preservation for the purposes of the gift.

C. A part may not be removed from the body of a decedent under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Chief 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 Office of the Chief 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 does not preclude the Chief Medical Examiner or an Assistant Chief Medical Examiner from performing the medicolegal autopsy upon the body or parts of a decedent under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner or from using the body or parts of a decedent under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the purposes of education, training, and research.

2007, cc. 92, 907; 2014, c. 583.