Who gets the first crack at a dead person’s organs?

That is one of the current hot topics during state House of Representative sessions in Harrisburg.

According to the Pennsylvania State Coroner’s Association, House Bill 30 would “drastically change” the rules under which organs are donated after death.

“Right now, when someone dies, we get the body first so that if we need to do an autopsy as part of an investigation, we can do that,” said Bob Miller, Carbon County coroner. “The liver and kidneys, in particular, are very important for toxicology purposes.

“The heart tells you if there’s a heart attack. What would happen under the new bill, as it was originally written, is an organization like the Gift of Life would get the organs before we see the body. That can’t be. That isn’t serving the people.”

Luckily for coroners, legislators are discussing amendments to the bill that may address their concerns.

Organ procurement agencies argue coroners are blocking people from becoming organ donors after those people or their families made clear they wanted to give the gift of life.

Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim said the argument is exaggerated.

“Since 2014, our county has denied eight donations out of 7,010 death reviews,” Grim said. “Overall, the number of coroner/medical examiner denials represent 0.0005 percent of donations.”

Miller said he has only denied donations “a couple of times.”

According to Grim, unless amendments are accepted, a family will have no right to say what happens to a deceased loved one.

A minor, when getting a driver’s permit, will be able to say yes to an organ donation and that, Miller said, would be the final word.

Pennsylvania once had state-of-the-art donation laws but is now one of three states that have not adopted the newest version of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. The law, among other things, sets a legal framework for who can authorize donation, as well as refuse making a gift and prevent others from overriding that choice after a person’s death.

Gift of Life Vice President of Clinical Services Richard Hasz says the regional organization works with about 500 organ donors each year and the law will align Pennsylvania with other states.

Pennsylvania lawmakers have discussed rewrites of the law with donation groups since 2010, he said.

Of critical importance to coroners is the legislation would impact their ability to gather bodily evidence in the case of homicide or wrongful death.

“If the evidence hasn’t been properly investigated in drug deaths, the ability to prosecute drug dealers will be impacted,” Grim said. “You can’t convict people without evidence, and without evidence, the perpetrator will likely not enter into a plea deal.”

Grim and Miller called the organ donation industry a multimillion dollar business. Tissues used for wound healing are sold to doctors at around $1,000 per 2 inches.

Pennsylvania leads the nation in organ donation rejections, with coroners blocking 28 full-body donors since 2014, according to the Gift of Life.

Charles Kiessling, president of the state Coroners Association, says denials represent a minuscule percentage of donations and are only made when necessary.

State lawmakers have temporarily tabled debate on the legislation. Unless the legislation is brought up for a vote before the two-year session ends Nov. 30, it will die.

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