Two organ donation bills were debated in the Senate, while the bill to regulate cryonic preservation of human bodies was withdrawn.

The Senate scheduled floor debate for April 8 on H2557, which adds requirements to the state Anatomical Gift Act pertaining to the donation of multiple organs and tissues, and H2531, which, gives high school driver education programs the option of providing information about organ donation. It passed the House 45-9.

H2557, which passed the House 56-1, evolved from allegations that the Donor Network of Arizona did not have complete authorization when it harvested multiple organs and tissues from a Tempe man, who collapsed and died in May last year after jogging.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Warde Nichols, R-21, requires hospitals to obtain separate authorizations for each organ or tissues to be donated. It also requires that a third person be present when authorization forms are explained.

In House and Senate committee testimony, Laurie Sterbenz of Chandler, said the Donor Network approached her family at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, where her father, Donald Bateman, had been declared brain dead. Mr. Bateman’s survivors decided to donate five of his organs.

Ms. Sterbenz told the committees that after her father’s organs were removed, his body was then taken by the donor organization from the hospital instead of the funeral home as planned.

She said the funeral home later informed the family that all of Mr. Bateman’s major bones and connective tissues also had been harvested, and as a result, there would not be enough ashes from his cremation to scatter or share with the family.

The organ donation authorization forms were altered after her mother signed them, Ms. Sterbenz alleged. She also testified that the Donor Network hassled her mother when she requested copies of the organ donation authorization form she had signed. Her mother then demanded that all her husband’s organs and tissue be returned to the funeral home, Ms. Sterbenz testified.

Two Donor Network representatives, Sara Pace Jones and Gregory Harris, expressed concern that the proposed changes in the organ donation protocol, which include checking of separate boxes for each organ or tissue to be donated, might slow the authorization process and discourage donations. They said the requirement that a third person be present for the authorizations might not be practical and would create problems for hospital staffs.

In a posting on its Web site, the Donor Network says patient confidentiality prevents it from commenting “directly to correct inaccuracies contained in [Ms. Sterbenz’s] testimony.” The organization said it would seek permission to “speak openly about the facts of this case” and would alert news media if that becomes possible.

The Donor Network said there are no tissue processors in Arizona and it sends bone and soft tissue, such as ligaments, cartilage and tendons out of state for use in orthopedic and dental procedures, with priority given to Arizona patients.

The donor organization said it falls under regulations and policies of several federal and state organizations, including Medicare and Medicaid and the Arizona Anatomical Gift Act (AAGA).

H2637 Withdrawn

State regulation and the AAGA have been core issues in much publicized negotiations between state legislators and Alcor Life Extension Foundation of Scottsdale.

Negotiators on Rep. Bob Stump’s bill to place the only cryonics company in the state under the jurisdiction of the state Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers decided to work on the measure over the summer. H2637 was withdrawn from the Senate Commerce Committee after passing the House 43-14.

Mr. Stump, R-9, said a recent civil action against Alcor, which currently stores the remains of 60 people in liquid nitrogen, including baseball great Ted Williams and possibly his son, caused him to hold off on the bill until the case is resolved.

The complaint was filed March 18 in Maricopa County Superior Court by three of Mr. Williams’s survivors, two of whom seek proof that Mr. Williams wanted his head preserved at the Alcor facility.

Two of Williams’s nephews, John Theodore Williams and Samuel Williams, request that Alcor produce a “document of gift” executed by Ted Williams, stating he donated his remains to the facility. They say the document is required by the AAGA.

Additionally, Mr. Williams’s eldest daughter, Bobby-Jo Ferrell, whom he disinherited, seeks another such document for John Henry Williams, the baseball player’s son who died last month of leukemia. According to news accounts, his body was taken to Alcor. Ms. Ferrell is John Henry’s half-sister.

Alcor attorneys have refused to provide any documents, maintaining that nephews and half-sisters do not qualify under the AAGA as “interested parties.”

Part of the negotiations on Mr. Stump’s bill involved whether Alcor’s operations should be covered by the AAGA, and he said he did not want his bill to interfere with the court case.

“…But they wanted to enshrine their status under the act in statute,” Mr. Stump said.

Alcor lobbyist Barry Aarons says the cryonics company is a “donor agency” and therefore comes under the AAGA. Funeral board CEO Rudy Thomas disagrees.

“If they’re a donor agency, why are people paying $110,000” to have their remains frozen at Alcor?” he asked.

Mr. Thomas said the AAGA and Mr. Stump’s bill need further work to make them more protective of consumers.

“I want it to be a consumer’s bill,” he said.

Some legislators had suggested that Alcor, where physicians process bodies for cryonic suspension, be regulated by the Arizona Medical Board, which licenses and regulates more than 10,000 allopathic physicians. The board’s chief executive officer, Barry Cassidy, said that would be problematic.

“We don’t know what standards they use,” he said. “It would be complicated legislation to make it enforceable.” —

The Alcor case is CV 2004-005129