Bill 4: Peter Kormos Memorial Act (Saving Organs to Save Lives), 2025

This bill primarily affects Ontario hospitals, health facilities, and other organizations designated under the Gift of Life Act. If you run or manage a hospital, long-term care home, or other designated health facility in Ontario, your day-to-day operations around end-of-life care and tissue procurement will change significantly. Staff will need to shift from seeking consent for organ donation to instead checking a centralized objection registry and contacting patients or substitutes about their right to object. Funeral homes, crematoriums, and embalmers may also be affected, as they could be involved in the objection process when no family members are available. The size of the facility matters — larger hospitals with trauma and ICU units will be most frequently impacted, but all designated facilities must comply with new notification and contact obligations.