Lawmakers are getting closer to a vote on legislation that would speed up the gathering of organs and tissues from donors. House Bill 30 will change the rules for the procurement industry.
Coroners said the legislation could hurt a prosecutors ability to use that tissue for a case.
“CORE or Gift of Life wants to tell me ‘You can’t do an autopsy unless you come to the autopsy suite with us and you put it into writing why we can’t have that body,'” explained Blair County Coroner Patricia Ross.
Coroners like Ross are frustrated because they said the bill would override the coroner state statute law. That law currently allows coroners to hold bodies for autopsies, which helps in prosecution of criminal investigations.
“As it stands right now under my law, I don’t have to answer to them,” Ross said.
For both coroners and organ recipients, it’s all about time.
“With the coroner’s not wanting to follow this, it is very upsetting,” said heart transplant recipient Dalton Igoe. “It’s very upsetting for families who have members on the waiting list because 18 people die every day and don’t get an organ.
Igoe said he understands the coroners need to do their job, but said the clock is ticking for many people.
“Every half hour, hour, someone else is added to the list,” he said. “And by coroners not making that split decision to making that process go faster, someone is dying.”
HB 30 is linked to Senate Bill 180, which would add an organ and tissue donation curriculum to the classroom. It also allows minors getting driver’s permits to say ‘yes” to being a donor.
“You never know what’s going to happen to you that day or the next day,” Igoe said. “People need to be aware of what they can do and what you can preserve and save.”
Both want to save lives, but the controversy lies in the fine details of the bill.
“Donoring under the right protocols, not donoring and taking the coroner’s jurisdiction away for crimes,” Ross said.
The bill’s primary sponsor, Representative Joe Petrarca (D), Latrobe, said the bills is on the schedule for a vote Tuesday, which may or may not happen. He said it depends on if they can compromise on some amendments coroners brought to lawmakers.