Becoming an Organ Donor--Things You Should Know

Every 18 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list in the United States. During the past seven years, the transplant waiting list has more than doubled from about 30,000 patients in 1993 to more than 78,000 men, women and children now awaiting heart, kidney, liver, lung, pancreas or small bowel transplants. Thousands more need donated corneas to restore sight; skin to heal burns; heart valves to replace diseased hearts; and bone to repair injured or diseased bones and joints.

Unfortunately, donations have not kept pace with the need. Although it is estimated that about 15,000 people die every year who can be organ donors, there have never been more than 6,000 donors in a year in the United States. As a result of this critical shortage, sixteen people die every day while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.

Ironically, surveys show that support for organ donation is very high. The problem is that few people ever tell their families about their wish to become a donor. Sharing your decision to be an organ and tissue donor with your family is as important as making the decision itself.

At the time of your death, your family will likely be asked about organ donation. If your family has never discussed donation before, this becomes a very difficult decision that they must make at a very bad time in their lives. Sharing your decision with your family now will help them carry out your wishes later. It will also prevent confusion or uncertainty about your wishes. In fact, many donor family members have said that carrying out their loved one's wishes to save other lives has provided them with great comfort in their time of grief.

If you have already signed a donor card, share this information with your family now. Many people gain comfort in knowing that they have relieved their family of the burden of making that decision. The problem with executing a donor card, but not telling anyone about executing the form, is that someone may not find the form until it is too late. Organ must be done shortly after death to preserve the tissue or organ for transplant. Without oxygen or blood, the tissue or organ will likely deteriorate quickly.

Other things to note:

• Of the 2.3 million people who die in the U.S. every year, fewer than one percent are eligible to be organ donors. Almost everyone, however, can be a tissue donor.

• Donation does not disfigure the body or prevent an open casket funeral.

• Donated organs are removed in a sterile, surgical procedure, similar to open heart surgery, in a hospital operating room by skilled surgeons.

• Few people are too old or too young to donate. Currently there are no age limits for donors. At the time of your death, medical professionals will determine whether your organs are transplantable.

• Organs that can be transplanted are the heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver and intestines. Tissues that can be recovered for transplantation include: corneas, heart valves, bone, skin, veins and tendons.

• The organ allocation system is blind to wealth, celebrity and social status. Donated organs are placed in recipients based on best medical match and most critical need.

• No costs directly related to organ or tissue donation are passed on to the donor's family or estate.

If you have not yet made a decision about donation -- please consider it. It is a chance for one final, heroic act to turn a loss into a life-giving opportunity.

Finally, make sure you know the wishes of your loved ones because you may be called on to help make the decision for others in your family.

Making a decision about organ and tissue donation can be difficult because it requires a person to consider his or her own mortality and to talk about dying. Most people don't talk about dying. They think if they don't talk about it, it won't happen. Actually, that is what happens with organ donation. If you don't talk about it, it won't happen.

For more information on organ donation, and to find a form for becoming an organ donor, go to this web site. You can also find a form for providing information to your family members here.