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Families, funeral directors back bill requiring notice when organs are retained or sent for testing
Summary
House Bill 381, advanced by the subcommittee, would require the chief medical examiner to notify next of kin or authorized persons if an autopsy requires retention or transfer of a whole organ; a grieving family and the Virginia Funeral Directors Association urged passage. The substitute was reported unanimously 9–0.
Delegate Bennett Parker told the subcommittee that HB 381 was prompted by a local family’s experience. She said the bill’s substitute requires the office of the chief medical examiner to notify either the decedent’s next of kin, an authorized person arranging disposition, or the funeral-service licensee if an investigation or autopsy requires retention or transfer of a whole organ.
Catherine and Richard Speckert testified that their daughter Clara’s heart was sent to a pathologist at UCLA for additional tests months after they had buried her. Catherine Speckert said, “We were stunned. We had thought we had buried all of Clara.” The family said learning about the transfer only by phone caused additional grief and extra costs as they worked to recover and bury the heart.
Greg Faulkner, president of the Virginia Funeral Directors Association, told the subcommittee his association had been concerned about the bill’s original language but supports the revised substitute. The subcommittee adopted the substitute and the clerk announced HB 381 reported with the substitute by a vote of 9–0.
