Florida Statute 765.547
“Cooperation between medical examiner and procurement organization”
What it means
Organ recovery and death investigation collide on a clock, and this section orders the two systems to work together: a medical examiner and a procurement organization shall cooperate to maximize the opportunity to recover anatomical gifts for transplantation, therapy, research, or education.
The Medical Examiners Commission writes the rules that spell out each side's responsibilities, built to facilitate and expedite the medical examiner's duties under Chapter 406. And the section keeps the hierarchy honest: nothing in it supersedes Chapter 406 — the death investigation is coordinated with, never overridden by, the gift.
- Medical examiners and procurement organizations shall cooperate to maximize recovery of anatomical gifts.
- Covers gifts for transplantation, therapy, research, or education.
- The Medical Examiners Commission adopts the rules dividing responsibilities between the two.
- Chapter 406 is not superseded — the medical examiner's authority over the body stands.
How it plays out
Accidental deaths, unattended deaths, anything under medical examiner jurisdiction — these are the estates where families ask us whether donation is still possible. The honest answer: usually, because this section forces coordination, but the investigation holds rank. Recovery happens on the examiner's timeline, and occasionally not at all. We prepare families for that so a failed recovery isn't read as someone's misconduct. The same coordination governs corneas specifically under §765.5185.
