Donation FAQ

When you register as an organ, eye and tissue donor you are making a legal decision that will be honored after your death. It’s important to talk with your family so they can be aware and prepared to honor your decision.

There are many ways to register as a donor. Register through your state’s official donor registry, at a driver’s-license or state-ID office, through Epic MyChart, through the Health app on an iPhone or online at RegiserMe.org. Registration records your legal decision, but it is still important to tell your family so they understand and are prepared to support your wishes.

Yes. You may update or remove your donor registration at any time. The exact steps depend on where you registered. Update each applicable record, for example, a state registry, the National Donate Life Registry, an iPhone Health registration, or a driver’s-license designation may each require action. Changing an online registry record may not remove the donor mark from your physical license, but the official authorization to donate is the computerized record and not the license. However, if you wish the designation to be removed, you may contact your motor-vehicle office.

Removal procedures will depend on where you registered. For a state registry, include driver’s license registration, use the state’s online update option or contact the relevant agency. For RegisterMe.org (including Epic MyChart and the Apple Health app), use “Access Registration” at the website. If your driver’s license or state ID displays a donor designation, and you wish it removed, contact the motor-vehicle office because removing an online record may not change the physical card, but the official authorization to donate is the computerized record and not the license.

When someone becomes a donor after death, the Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) coordinates medical evaluation of each recovered organ, uses the national transplant waitlist matching system to allocate the organ to the highest listed patients, organizes transportation of the organ to transplant centers, and works with the funeral home of the family’s choice on transporting the deceased. Afterward, the OPO provides the family with donation outcomes, grief resources, remembrance opportunities, and an optional process for anonymous or non-anonymous correspondence and/or meeting with recipients through its continuous donor family aftercare program.

Every individual has the right to sign up to donate their organs, eyes and tissues at the time of their death. Anyone can register. Your age or health does not prevent you from registering. Most health conditions do not prevent donation and age is not a factor – the oldest organ donor was 100 years old! Medical advances now allow people with chronic conditions, cancer, HIV and hepatitis to donate. Don’t rule yourself out – check the box.

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When a patient suffers a life-ending injury and meets initial donation criteria, the hospital notifies the local Organ Procurement Organization (OPO). If, after further screening, the patient meets all medical requirements and the patient is authorized for donation either by next-of-kin or through donor registration, the donation proceeds through one of two pathways, depending on the circumstances of a person’s death: donation after brain death (DBD) or donation after circulatory death (DCD). In either pathway, organ recovery only begins after death has been independently declared by medical professionals who are not part of the transplant or organ procurement team. This separation is a core ethical and legal safeguard in the donation process.

Donation after Brain Death (DBD): It occurs when a patient has suffered a catastrophic brain injury and is declared brain dead, meaning all brain function, including the brainstem, has permanently and irreversibly stopped. Because the patient is on a ventilator, their heart continues beating and blood continues circulating to organs even after brain death has been declared. This circulation keeps the organs viable for donation to occur. Once brain death is declared through a rigorous clinical exam (often performed more than once, per hospital and state protocols), the organ procurement organization coordinates with the transplant team the recovery process for each organ.

Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD): This pathway applies when a patient has a non-survivable injury or illness but does not meet the clinical criteria for brain death. In these cases, the family (often in line with the patient’s own wishes) may decide to withdraw life-sustaining treatment after consulting with the hospital medical team. OPO staff and transplant team members are not involved in the family’s decision to withdraw ventilator support for the patient. If the DCD pathway is pursued, preparations for organ recovery are made so donation can occur if the patient dies after ventilator removal. Death is declared after ventilator removal only after the heart has permanently and irreversibly stopped beating, and only after a five-minute period of observation. Because organs are without a blood supply for a period during this process, DCD requires a highly coordinated, time-sensitive recovery effort, and specialized techniques such as normothermic regional perfusion are increasingly used to preserve organ function during this interval. In about 20% of instances, the patient on a DCD pathway does not die within a time period that makes donation possible. In those instances, the patient is returned to the ICU.

In both pathways, the same core principle applies: death is declared independently, by physicians who have no role in transplantation, before any steps toward organ recovery begin. This separation exists to protect patients and families and to ensure that end-of-life care decisions are made entirely independently of any consideration of donation.

Brain death, also called death by neurologic criteria, is the permanent loss of all function of the entire brain, including the brainstem. It is legally and medically recognized as death. Hospital clinician – not Organ Procurement Organization staff or members of the transplant team – determine brain death using a comprehensive evaluation under strict medical standards. The examination by hospital staff confirms a number of important elements: a catastrophic brain injury has occurred, the absence of brain and brainstem responses, and no ability to breathe independently. This independent testing is performed only after conditions that could mimic brain death (like drug intoxication, hypothermia, etc) have been excluded.

No. Brain death is permanent and irreversible; a person who has been correctly declared brain-dead has died and cannot recover consciousness or breathe independently. A ventilator can temporarily keep oxygen circulating and may make the chest rise or the heart continue beating, but it does not restore brain function. Brain death is different from coma: a person in a coma is alive, retains some brain activity, and may sometimes recover.

A national computer system within the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) creates a ranked match list for each donated organ. The system applies organ-specific policy and considers medically relevant factors such as blood type, body or organ size, tissue compatibility, medical urgency, time waiting, and distance between hospitals. The order is unique to each donor and organ. The OPO offers the organ to the transplant team for the highest-ranked compatible transplant candidate on the wait list; if it is declined by the transplant center on behalf of their patient for clinical or logistical reasons, the offer moves to the next candidate.

One person can save and heal more than 75 lives through organ, eye and tissue donation.

In the United States, there are over 100,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ transplant and more than 2,000 of those people are right here in our community. The gift of organ, eye and tissue donation has the power to save and heal lives. It’s a generous and selfless gift – the gift of life.

When it comes to waiting for a transplant, we are all created equal. Wealthy or famous individuals cannot and do not get bumped up higher on the national transplant waiting list.

These factors are used to determine the best candidate for an available organ:

• Blood type
• Body size
• Severity of patient’s medical condition
• Distance between the donor’s hospital and the patient’s hospital
• The patient’s waiting time
• Whether the patient is healthy enough for surgery

Read this blog post to learn more.

No. Wealth, celebrity, religion, gender, race, and social status are not factors in the organ-matching algorithm. Ranking is based on the medical and logistical criteria established in policies created by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. However, a separate access issue can arise before listing: a person must be evaluated and accepted by a transplant center, and financial or insurance barriers can complicate access to evaluation and post-transplant care. However, wealth and insurance status do not impact a patient’s position once added to the transplant waitlist.

There is no cost to your family. If you decide to be an organ, eye and tissue donor, your family will NOT have to pay for any medical expenses associated with the donation.

Your religious and spiritual beliefs will be respected, and your decision will be honored. In general, all major religions in the United States support organ, eye and tissue donation and consider it a generous act of caring. Watch this video to learn more.

For an adult who has legally registered as a deceased donor, the registration is legal authorization and the donation decision cannot be revoked by family members. The regional Organ Procurement Organization works with the family to explain the process, answer questions, obtain needed medical and social history, and provide support. Talking with family in advance remains important because it reduces surprise and helps them understand the decision. If the person was not registered, or is a minor, the decision to authorize donation would come from the legal next-of-kin, usually a family member or guardian.

Generally, no, not when an adult has documented a valid donor registration. Under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act passed in each state, that donor registration is a legally binding anatomical gift. The OPO informs and supports the family rather than asking them to replace the registered donor’s decision. If there is was no prior donor registration, or the potential donor is a minor, the legal next-of-kin would be given the opportunity to authorize donation.

If you don’t decide prior to your death whether or not you want to become an organ, eye and tissue donor, your loved ones will have the opportunity to make that decision on your behalf. Therefore, it is incredibly important to document your decision and share your decision with your loved ones.

Organ, eye and tissue donors are heroes and are treated as such. The medical professionals who perform the recovery surgeries treat donors with the utmost respect, just like they would for any other patient. If you and your family were planning on an open casket funeral or viewing, these plans should not be affected by donation.

Yes. If you are taken to the hospital after an accident or injury, it is the hospital’s number one priority to save YOUR life. Your status as a donor is not considered until every effort has been made to try to save your life. To be considered for donation, a patient must be on a ventilator and either declared brain dead or suffer cardiac death.

Doctors cannot buy or sell a donated organ, and donated organs are not sold for profit. Federal law prohibits transferring a human organ for “valuable consideration.” Medical professionals, hospitals, Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO), laboratories, transport providers, and transplant centers may be paid or reimbursed for legitimate services and costs, such as evaluation, recovery, preservation, transportation, and transplantation, but not for the organ itself. The donor’s family is not charged for costs related to the donation.