§ 77.001.Definition

One definition setting the scope of a short chapter about transplants and transfusions.

"Human body part" means any tissue, organ, blood, or components thereof from a human.

Naming blood separately from tissue is the point of the definition. Blood is the most frequently transferred human material by a wide margin, and a chapter about transplants that did not mention it would invite the argument that transfusion was outside.

"Or components thereof" is what makes the definition work in practice, because whole blood is rarely what reaches a patient. Transfusion medicine separates blood into red cells, platelets, and plasma, and plasma is further processed into clotting factors and immunoglobulins.

Each of those is a component, and each falls within the definition.

"From a human" excludes artificial and animal-derived material. A synthetic implant, a mechanical valve, or a device is not a human body part, and a claim about one is an ordinary products liability or medical liability claim.

That boundary is the significant one, because the chapter’s whole purpose is to keep human biological material out of products liability. The policy provision declares the procurement, processing, and distribution of human body parts to be the rendition of a service rather than the sale of a product.

That characterisation is what removes strict liability, and it means a claim about contaminated blood or tissue must be proved as negligence.

The limitation provision then confines liability to negligence or wilful misconduct, and the blood bank provision addresses compensating a seller.