To amend sections 2105.35, 2108.07, and 2108.30 of the Revised Code to authorize registered nurses to determine and pronounce death.

Section 1. That sections 2105.35, 2108.07, and 2108.30 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 2105.35. (A)(1) A person is dead if the person has been determined and pronounced to be dead pursuant to standards established under section 2108.30 of the Revised Code.

(2) A physician or registered nurse who makes a determination and pronouncement of death in accordance with section 2108.30 of the Revised Code and any person who acts in good faith in reliance on a determination and pronouncement of death made by a physician or registered nurse in accordance with that section is entitled to the immunity conveyed by that section.

(B) A certified or authenticated copy of a death certificate purporting to be issued by an official or agency of the place where the death of a person purportedly occurred is prima-facie evidence of the fact, place, date, and time of the person's death and the identity of the decedent.

(C) A certified or authenticated copy of any record or report of a domestic or foreign governmental agency that a person is missing, detained, dead, or alive is prima-facie evidence of the status and of the dates, circumstances, and places disclosed by the record or report.

(D) In the absence of prima-facie evidence of death under division (B) or (C) of this section, the fact of death may be established by clear and convincing evidence, including circumstantial evidence.

(E) Except as provided in division (F) of this section, a presumption of the death of a person arises:

(1) When the person has disappeared and been continuously absent from the person's place of last domicile for a five-year period without being heard from during the period;

(2) When the person has disappeared and been continuously absent from the person's place of last domicile without being heard from and was at the beginning of the person's absence exposed to a specific peril of death, even though the absence has continued for less than a five-year period.

(F) When a person who is on active duty in the armed services of the United States has been officially determined to be absent in a status of "missing" or "missing in action," a presumption of death arises when the head of the federal department concerned has made a finding of death pursuant to the "Federal Missing Persons Act," 80 Stat. 625 (1966), 37 U.S.C.A. 551, as amended.

(G) In the absence of evidence disputing the time of death stipulated on a document described in division (B) or (C) of this section, a document described in either of those divisions that stipulates a time of death one hundred twenty hours or more after the time of death of another person, however the time of death of the other person is determined, establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the person survived the other person by one hundred twenty hours.

(H) The provisions of divisions (A) to (G) of this section are in addition to any other provisions of the Revised Code, the Rules of Criminal Procedure, or the Rules of Evidence that pertain to the determination of death and status of a person.

Sec. 2108.07.  A donee may accept or reject an anatomical gift. If a donee accepts an anatomical gift of an entire body, the surviving spouse or next of kin may, after consultation with the donee and subject to the terms of the anatomical gift, allow the embalming and use of the body in funeral services. If the anatomical gift is of a part of a body, the donee, upon the death of the donor and prior to embalming, shall cause the part to be removed without unnecessary disfigurement. After removal of the part, the custody of the remainder of the body vests in the surviving spouse, next of kin, or other persons under obligation to dispose of the body.

(B) The physician or registered nurse who attends determines and pronounces the death of the donor at death or, if none, the physician who certifies the death shall determine the time of death of the donor and record the time in writing. The physician or registered nurse determining and pronouncing the time of death or the physician certifying the death shall not participate in the procedures for removing or transplanting a part.

Sec. 2108.30.  (A)(1) An individual is dead if he the individual has sustained either irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or irreversible cessation of all functions of the brain, including the brain stem, as determined in accordance with accepted medical standards. If Except as provided in division (A)(2) of this section, the determination and pronouncement of an individual's death may be made by either a physician or registered nurse. A registered nurse is not authorized to complete any portion of the individual's death certificate.

(2) If the respiratory and circulatory functions of a person are being artificially sustained, under accepted medical standards a determination that death has occurred is made by a physician by observing and conducting a test to determine that the irreversible cessation of all functions of the brain has occurred.

(B) A physician or registered nurse who makes a determination and pronouncement of death in accordance with this section and accepted medical standards is not liable for damages in any civil action or subject to prosecution in any criminal proceeding for his the physician's or registered nurse's acts or the acts of others based on that determination and pronouncement.

Any person who acts in good faith in reliance on a determination and pronouncement of death made by a physician or registered nurse in accordance with this section and accepted medical standards is not liable for damages in any civil action or subject to prosecution in any criminal proceeding for his the person's actions.

Section 2. That existing sections 2105.35, 2108.07, and 2108.30 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.