(1) In any case in which a patient is in need of corneal tissue for a transplant, a district medical examiner or an appropriately qualified designee with training in ophthalmologic techniques may, upon request of any eye bank authorized under s. 765.518, provide the cornea of a decedent whenever all of the following conditions are met:

(a) A decedent who may provide a suitable cornea for the transplant is under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner and an autopsy is required in accordance with s. 406.11.

Terms Used In Florida Statutes 765.5185

  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Decedent: means a deceased individual whose body or body parts may be, or are, the source of an anatomical gift. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Eye bank: means an entity that is accredited by the Eye Bank Association of America or otherwise regulated under federal or state law to engage in the retrieval, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of human eye tissue. See Florida Statutes 765.511
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
(b) No objection by the next of kin of the decedent is known by the medical examiner.
(c) The removal of the cornea will not interfere with the subsequent course of an investigation or autopsy.
(2) Neither the district medical examiner nor the medical examiner’s appropriately qualified designee nor any eye bank authorized under s. 765.518 may be held liable in any civil or criminal action for failure to obtain consent of the next of kin.
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