25ACertificates required in certain situations

25A Certificates required in certain situations

[Section 25A Inserted by No. 51 of 1987, s. 5 ]

(1)  Where  –

(a) a person has died within the meaning of section 27A ; and

(b) at the time at which he died or at any time thereafter his respiration was being maintained by artificial means  –

a designated officer for a hospital shall not give an authority under this Part in respect of that deceased person unless 2 medical practitioners, each of whom has been a medical practitioner for a period of not less than 5 years, have each certified in writing  –

(c) that he carried out a clinical examination of the person while the respiration of that person was being maintained by artificial means; and

(d) that, in his opinion, at the time of that examination, irreversible cessation of all function of the brain of the person had already occurred.

Penalty:  Fine not exceeding 50 penalty units or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or both.

(2)  For the purposes of subsection (1) , any period during which a person who is a medical practitioner practised as a medical practitioner, however described, under the law in force in a place outside Australia shall be taken into account in calculating the period of 5 years referred to in that subsection.