§ 5-408. Buying, selling, or transporting bodies

   (a) Buying or selling bodies or human organs. --

   (1) A person may not sell or buy any body or any part of a body that is under the exclusive control of the Board.

   (2) A person other than a nonprofit organization that qualifies under § 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, may not sell, buy, or act as a broker for a profit in the transfer of any human organ that:

      (i) Is removed from a human body that is alive or dead at the time of removal; and

      (ii) Is not under the exclusive control of the Board.

   (3) In this section, "human organ" does not include blood and plasma.

(b) Transporting. --

   (1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subsection, a person may not send, transport, or permit or cause to be sent or transported out of the State any body or any part of a body that is under the exclusive control of the Board.

   (2) The Board may authorize, by regulation, the transporting of human specimens under its exclusive control to an out-of-state medical study program, provided that:

      (i) The needs of the schools of the State are met;

      (ii) The requesting party demonstrates the need for a specimen;

      (iii) The circumstances of the request are that:

         1. No other sufficient source of specimens within the requesting state exists; or

         2. A preexisting organ tissue donation was made by an individual in compliance with the Maryland Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act;

      (iv) The requesting party bears the responsibility for transporting and the specialized care of the specimen and all associated costs; and

      (v) The Board retains the right of exclusive control of the specimen including the final disposition when appropriate or necessary to fulfill an obligation to return the remains of a donated specimen to the donor's family.

   (3) The Board may authorize a physician, teacher, demonstrator, or investigator of advanced human biological sciences to send or transport human specimens out of the State for use by medical study programs.

HISTORY: An. Code 1957, art. 43, § 160; 1982, ch. 21, § 2; 1984, ch. 299; 1986, ch. 396, § 1; 1991, ch. 68; 1994, ch. 3, § 1; 2011, ch. 541, § 2.