Law No. 104 of March 27, 2003 (republished)

HEAD. I — General provisions

ART. ! 1

(1) Human corpses shall mean persons who no longer show any signs of brain, cardiac or respiratory activity and who are declared medically deceased in accordance with the law.

(2) Medical confirmation of brain death is made on the basis of diagnostic criteria established according to the law.

ART. ! 2

The right to handle human corpses for diagnosis or teaching and scientific activities belongs to the services of pathological anatomy and prosecution of hospitals and institutions of forensic medicine, the university disciplines of anatomy and pathological anatomy of state or private human medical higher education institutions, accredited or authorized, which organize services for the use of corpses.

ART. ! 3

The services of pathological anatomy, prosecting and morphopathology in hospitals, as well as the university disciplines of pathological anatomy in human medical higher education institutions ensure, through scientific means, the establishment of the diagnosis of certainty, contributing to the realization of scientific research in the medical field and to the improvement of medical care.

ART. ! 4

(1) Services for the use of corpses are functional structures of the university disciplines of anatomy in human medical higher education institutions that have the task of taking them over, for the purpose of sampling and preserving human tissues and organs for teaching and scientific activity.

(2) Human medical higher education institutions that organize services for the use of corpses may own and use crematoria, according to the legal provisions in the field of environmental protection and in compliance with the sanitary and hygienic norms established by the Ministry of Health.

ART. ! 5

The activity of pathological anatomy consists in performing macroscopic and microscopic examinations on biological products harvested either from living persons or at autopsy of corpses, namely: operating parts, biopsy material, biopsies of digestive tract, bronchial, liver, pancreas, kidneys, medullary punctures, lymph nodes, biological fluids, finely needled aspirated material, froth exfoliative tissues, organs, tissue fragments and the like.

ART. ! 6

In hospitals, a single pathological anatomy service is organized, as a department or department, administratively subordinated directly to the hospital management, which includes 3 distinct departments:

a) histopathology department;

b) cytology department;

c) the prosecture compartment.

ART. ! 7

The activity in the prosecting departments and anatomopathological autopsies is carried out only in hospitals or in institutions of forensic medicine.

HEAD. II — Pathological Anatomy and Prosecture Services

ART. ! 8

1. Prosecting activity shall consist of the following:

a) performing autopsies for anatomoclinical purposes and performing histopathological examination of the fragments harvested during the autopsy;

b) activities to restore the appearance of corpses, such as embalming, washing, dressing and beautification of corpses.

2. The activities referred to in paragraph 1 (b) shall constitute a mandatory medical measure for the prevention of contamination and shall be carried out by the specialized personnel of the prosecution compartment.

ART. ! 9

The organizational and personnel structure, as well as the duties of the pathological anatomy and prosecution services in hospitals are established by order of the Minister of Health.

ART. ! 10

(1) Anatomopathological autopsy is mandatory in all deaths occurring in the hospital that are not forensic cases and where it is necessary to confirm, specify or complete the clinical diagnosis, including the death of children under one year, regardless of the place of death, as well as maternal deaths that are not forensic cases.

2. A death under 24 hours shall not be considered a death occurring during transfer between wards or hospitals, unless there is doubt as to the treatment applied or the diagnosis of death, nor a death occurring during admission for a periodic cure of a terminal chronic condition, unless there is doubt as to the treatment applied or the diagnosis of death.

(3) For patients with known, well-investigated chronic diseases, provided that the participants have no reservations about the disease and the treatment applied and assume responsibility for it in writing, the autopsy may be ordered not to be performed, under the signature, by the director of the hospital, with the opinion of the head of the department where the deceased was admitted, the doctor may be ordered not to perform an autopsy, under the signature of the hospital director, with the opinion of the head of the department where the deceased was admitted. Curator and Head of Pathological Anatomy Service.

ART. ! 11

In all cases where there is a suspicion of forensic medical implications provided for by law, the head of the pathological anatomy service of the hospital shall notify the competent criminal prosecution bodies in writing within 24 hours to refer the case to the institution of forensic medicine. The same procedure is used for unidentified deaths and for foreign nationals who have died in hospital.

HEAD. III — University Disciplines of Anatomy and Organization of Services for the Use of Corpses

ART. ! 12

The university discipline of anatomy is a functional unit within the human medical higher education institution and includes the service for the use of corpses, the organizational and personnel structure of which is established by the management of the institution.

ART. ! 13

The services for the use of cadavers within the academic disciplines of anatomy have the following tasks:

a) take over the corpses on the basis of a protocol concluded between higher medical education institutions and the pathological anatomy and prosecution services of hospitals;

b) prepare and preserve the bodies for dissection;

c) carry out anatomical preparations;

d) prepare skeletons;

e) preserves tissues and organs.

ART. ! 14

The services for the use of cadavers within the academic disciplines of anatomy carry out medical scientific education and research activities.

ART. ! 15

The services for the use of cadavers within the academic disciplines of anatomy collaborate with the microscopy departments of the departments of histology, pathological anatomy and cell biology.

ART. ! 16

(1) The university disciplines of anatomy, pathological anatomy, histology and cell biology together with the prosecution services constitute a functional department within the human medical higher education institution.

(2) Prosectoral services in university hospitals are used as clinical bases for the university disciplines of anatomy and pathological anatomy.

ART. ! 17

(1) Services for the use of cadavers shall be obliged to draw up a list of wards of hospitals and bed-care units which have pathological anatomy and prosectoral services.

2. On the basis of this list, hospitals shall be obliged to conclude the protocol referred to in Article 13 (a).

(3) The protocol shall be drawn up by the functional departments of human medical higher education institutions.

ART. ! 18

(1) Pathological anatomy and prosecution services of hospitals or other health facilities holding unclaimed or unclaimed corpses shall immediately inform the academic subjects of anatomy to which they are assigned.

(2) The academic disciplines of anatomy must immediately show their readiness to take over the corpse.

(3) The corpse shall be taken within 3 days of receiving the information.

ART. ! 19

Services for the use of corpses are obliged to preserve the bodies for 30 days after death before they are placed in the dissection rooms.

ART. ! 20

(1) The town halls shall grant burial aid to the functional departments, on the basis of death certificates and the protocol concluded with the pathological anatomy and prosecution services.

(2) The functional departments shall provide religious service and, where appropriate, cremation or burial of bodies, after their use for teaching or scientific purposes.

3. Burial aid shall not be granted if, during the period referred to in Article 19, the corpse is claimed by relatives.

HEAD. IV — Financing and remuneration of staff

ART. ! 21

(1) The financing of the services of pathological anatomy and examinations in the hospital is made from the budget of the Health Social Insurance Fund, through the budget of the hospital.

(2) The financing of services for the use of cadavers in the academic disciplines of anatomy is made from the state budget allocated to the institution and from own revenues.

ART. ! 22

The staff of the pathological anatomy and prosecution services of hospitals and the staff of the university disciplines of anatomy, histology, pathological anatomy and cell biology fall into the category of jobs under special conditions.

HEAD. V — The use of corpses for teaching and scientific purposes and the taking of tissues and organs from corpses

ART. ! 23

University disciplines and prosecution services may take over corpses for teaching and scientific purposes:

a) on the basis of the express, prior written consent of the patient or family;

(b) the willingness of living persons to make their bodies available after death;

c) by taking over unclaimed bodies in accordance with art. 17—18.

ART. ! 24

The removal of tissues and organs from corpses is done in such a way as not to prejudice the results of autopsy or forensic autopsy.

ART. ! 25

(1) Handling corpses in violation of this law constitutes a violation and is punishable by a fine of 500 to 3,000 lei.

(2) The finding and sanctioning of the violation shall be made by the police bodies.

(3) The provisions of Government Ordinance no. 2/2001 on the legal regime of infringements shall apply.