Public Health Law § 4209-a · Title 2. Autopsy and Dissection
Procedure for obtaining identification by persons opposed to the dissection or autopsy of their bodies upon their death
Text — Law content up to date as of October 9, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 4209-a. Procedure for obtaining identification by persons opposed to the dissection or autopsy of their bodies upon their death. Except as required by law, no dissection or autopsy shall be performed on the body of any person who is carrying an identification card upon his person indicating his opposition to such dissection or autopsy. To be valid, this card must be signed and dated by the person opposed to the dissection or autopsy and must be notarized.
The card shall measure at least two inches by three inches and shall be made of a cardboard based material. The card shall state:
"I, ............................................................,
(insert the name of the person opposed to dissection or autopsy) do not consent to the dissection or autopsy of my body except as is required by law."
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 9, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PBH4209-A
- Text hash
- sha256 429db560b844319a51f3675ab815aa30f181cd0673e8b59407038a0874bf49d9
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.