Source: https://wearabledocs.com/states/pennsylvania Anatomical gift act · Pennsylvania # How to Refuse Organ Donation in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania has no section of law headed "refusal," but your refusal still counts. If you write that you do not want to donate (in an advance health care directive, a living will, a power of attorney, a will, or any other document), the hospital must record it and pass it on, and testing to evaluate you as a donor cannot go ahead. Pennsylvania will not put a refusal on your driver's licence or in the state registry; only a "yes" goes there. That is why your refusal has to be written down somewhere it will be found. 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 8611, 8617, 8619. What Pennsylvania asks ## What you need to make a refusal in Pennsylvania **Act** 1968 act **Enforcement** A person who knows of your refusal may not make the gift, and a donee with notice of it may not accept. **Signing it yourself** No formalities are prescribed for making one. **If someone signs at your direction** The same, whoever signs. **Notary** Its statute does not say. **Pennsylvania law** 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 8611, 8613, 8615 **Statute read** 2026-09-02 Persons who may execute anatomical gift; Manner of executing anatomical gifts · Amendment or revocation of gift ## The statute itself Quoted from Pennsylvania’s enacted code, in full and unedited. How an objection operates (b), (c)(1)(i) > § 8611(b): 'Subject to subsection (b.1), any of the following persons who are reasonably available, in order of priority stated, when persons in prior classes are not reasonably available at the time of death, and in the absence of known objections by the decedent or by a member of a prior class, may give all or any part of the decedent's body ....' § 8611(c)(1): 'The donee may not accept a gift under any of the following circumstances: (i) The donee knows of an objection by the decedent.' 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 8611(c)(1)(i), 8613(e)(1) Reads “Subject to subsection (b”. That subsection is not reproduced here. What cannot be overridden here is a GIFT, not a refusal (§ 8613(e)(1)) > Subject to paragraph (2), a donor's gift of all or any part of the donor's body, including a designation in a registry on a driver's license or identification card, donor card, advance health care directive, will or other document of gift, may not be revoked by the next of kin or other persons identified in section 8611(b). The consent of any person at the time of the donor's death or immediately thereafter is not necessary to render the gift valid and effective. This paragraph shall not be construed to permit the donation of a vascularized composite allograft. 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 8611(c)(1)(i), 8613(e)(1) A card carried on you, in the statute (for making a gift) (b) > A gift of all or part of the body under section 8611(a) may also be made by document other than a will. The gift becomes effective upon the death of the donor. The document, which may be a card designed to be carried on the person, must be signed by the donor in the presence of two witnesses who must sign the document in his presence. 20 Pa.C.S. § 8613(b) [Look up another state](https://wearabledocs.com/states) ## One document, not fifty forms. You tell us your state, we show you what it asks for before you sign, and your page names the state you signed in. Your signed document is what carries legal weight. We host it and make it findable. [See what it costs](https://wearabledocs.com/pricing)