Bill 107 explained in plain English
Peter Kormos Memorial Act (Saving Organs to Save Lives), 2022
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 107 changes Ontario's laws to allow tissue removal from deceased persons for transplant, medical education, or research without consent, unless the person or their family objected, while requiring parental consent for children under 16.
Bill 107, called the Peter Kormos Memorial Act (Saving Organs to Save Lives), 2022, amends Ontario's tissue and organ donation laws. The main change is that tissue can now be removed from a deceased person's body for transplant, medical education, or scientific research without needing prior consent—unless the person objected before death or their family objects after death. For children under 16, parents or guardians must still give consent. The bill creates a registry where Ontario Health will track people who have registered objections or consents. Hospitals and other designated facilities must notify Ontario Health when a patient dies or is near death. Ontario Health's responsibilities are expanded to coordinate tissue removal and donation activities across the province.
- Removes the general requirement for consent before tissue is removed from a deceased person's body for therapeutic purposes, medical education, or scientific research
- Allows people aged 16 or older to object to tissue removal at any time before death or during final illness, through writing, oral statement with two witnesses, or electronic message
- Requires parents or guardians to give consent on behalf of children under 16 for tissue removal after death
- Allows family members or other specified persons to object on behalf of a deceased person if the person died without expressing an objection and was unable to do so
- Establishes a registry maintained by Ontario Health to record objections and consents
- Requires designated facilities (such as hospitals) to notify Ontario Health when a patient dies or is near death
- Expands Ontario Health's mandate to plan, coordinate, undertake, support, and promote tissue removal, donation, and transplantation activities
- Updates confidentiality provisions to account for objections in addition to consents
- Deceased persons and their families, as tissue removal policies shift from requiring prior consent to allowing removal unless there is an objection
- People aged 16 or older, who gain the right to object to tissue removal before or during their final illness
- Parents and guardians of children under 16, who must provide consent for tissue removal from their children after death
- Hospitals and other designated facilities, which must notify Ontario Health when a patient dies or is near death
- Ontario Health, which gains new responsibilities to coordinate tissue donation activities and maintain a registry of objections and consents
- Medical professionals and researchers who may use removed tissue for therapeutic purposes, medical education, or scientific research
- People aged 16 or older have the right to object to tissue removal at any time before death or during final illness, in writing, orally with two witnesses, or by electronic message
- Parents and guardians must provide written consent on behalf of children under 16 before tissue can be removed after the child's death
- Family members (spouse, children, parents, siblings, next of kin) have the right to object on behalf of a deceased person in specific circumstances
- Designated facilities must notify Ontario Health when a patient dies or is near death
- Ontario Health must establish and maintain a registry and must determine whether a facility should contact patients or families to ask about objections or consents
- Ontario Health must coordinate tissue removal, donation, and transplantation activities across the province
- Hospitals and other designated facilities must make reasonable efforts to contact patients or families if the Agency advises that objection or consent status should be confirmed
- Bill 107 comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent
- Bill 107 text does not address financial or tax impacts
- Bill 107 text does not specify penalties or enforcement mechanisms for violations
- The bill text does not specify what happens if a family member making an objection on behalf of a deceased person cannot be located or reached
- The bill does not detail how Ontario Health will determine whether a facility should contact patients or families, beyond stating it will do so 'in consultation with the designated facility'
- The specific requirements for electronic contact (email, recorded message) are not fully defined in the bill text
- The bill does not specify timelines for notifying families or for determining objection status after a patient's death
- The bill does not clarify the process if different family members disagree about whether tissue should be removed
- The bill does not specify what happens to an objection or consent once it is registered—whether it can be withdrawn or changed
- The regulations to be made by the Minister regarding contact requirements and qualifications of persons contacting patients or families are not yet drafted
Removes the definition of 'consent' as a requirement before tissue removal; replaces the consent-based system with an opt-out system where tissue may be removed unless the person or family objects; updates rules for who may object on behalf of a deceased person and how objections must be made; requires designated facilities to notify Ontario Health of deaths or imminent deaths; updates confidentiality rules to include objections
Source: Sections 1–9 of Bill 107
Adds new duties to Ontario Health to plan, coordinate, undertake, support, and promote activities related to tissue removal, donation, transplantation, and other uses; requires Ontario Health to establish and maintain a registry of persons who have registered objections or consents to tissue removal
Source: Sections 10–11 of Bill 107
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced