Florida Statute 765.513
“Donees; purposes for which anatomical gifts may be made”
What it means
This section controls who may receive an anatomical gift and for what purpose. Three donee classes: a procurement organization or an accredited medical or dental school, college, or university (education, research, therapy, or transplantation); an individual specified by name, but only for therapy or transplantation that person needs; and, for whole-body gifts, the anatomical board or a nontransplant anatomical donation organization for medical or dental education or research.
If a donor lists purposes without ranking them, the gift goes first to transplantation or therapy if suitable, then to research or education. And any restriction on a gift by race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, physical disability, health status, marital status, or economic status is void and unenforceable.
- Donees: procurement organizations and accredited medical or dental schools, colleges, and universities — for education, research, therapy, or transplantation.
- A named individual may receive a gift only for therapy or transplantation that person needs.
- Whole-body gifts route to the anatomical board or a nontransplant anatomical donation organization for education or research.
- Unranked purposes: transplantation or therapy first if suitable — research or education only if the gift can't be used for the first two.
- Restrictions by race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, health, marital, or economic status are void and unenforceable.
How it plays out
The donee classes are the consumer-protection angle we walk families through. Transplantation runs through regulated procurement organizations; whole-body donation is a different market, and the statute routes it to the anatomical board or a nontransplant anatomical donation organization for a reason. When a company offers a family free cremation in exchange for a body, our first question is which §765.513 class it belongs to and for what stated purpose. The answer — or the silence — tells you most of what you need to know.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 765.513 does real work:
Questions people ask
