House approves bill to criminalize organ retention without permission

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers on Thursday advanced a bill making it a crime for medical examiners to retain a deceased person’s organs without permission.

The legislation was introduced after several families said inmates’ bodies came back from autopsies with their hearts or other internal organs missing. The House of Representatives vote 89-1 for the proposal. The bill now moves to the Alabama Senate.

State law currently requires medical examiners to have permission to retain organs unless it is done for identification or determining a cause of death. The bill would make it a felony for a medical examiner to retain a deceased person’s organs without getting that permission from “the appropriate next of kin.”

The families of several men who died while incarcerated filed federal lawsuits alleging that their loved ones’ bodies were missing organs when they were returned after state autopsies.

“We’re just letting people know that we are paying attention, and the law needs to be followed,” Rep. Chris England, the bill’s sponsor, said.

England said the issue was not on his “bingo card” for the year, but it became necessary to introduce. The bill was approved with little debate.