(A) If any of the following persons, while acting in the course of the person's official duties, finds an individual and reasonably believes that the individual is dead or near death, the person shall make a reasonable search of the body of the individual for a document of gift or other information identifying the individual as a donor or as an individual who made a refusal:

(1) A law enforcement officer as defined in section 2901.01 of the Revised Code;

(2) A member of a fire department as defined in section 4117.01 of the Revised Code;

(3) A first responder, emergency medical technician-basic, emergency medical technician-intermediate, or emergency medical technician-paramedic, as those terms are defined in section 4765.01 of the Revised Code.

(B) If a document of gift or refusal to make an anatomical gift is located by the search required by division (A) of this section, and the individual or deceased individual to whom it relates is taken to a hospital, the person responsible for conducting the search shall send the document of gift or refusal to the hospital.

(C) A person is not subject to criminal or civil liability for failing to discharge the duties imposed by this section but may be subject to any of the following:

(1) Disciplinary action under a collective bargaining agreement, if the person is covered by a collective bargaining agreement entered into under Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code;

(2) Disciplinary action under section 124.34 of the Revised Code, if the person is an officer or employee in the classified service of this state or the counties, civil service townships, cities, city health districts, general health districts, or city school districts of this state;

(3) Disciplinary action by the person's employer.

Effective Date: 2008 HB529 04-07-2009 .