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How does organ donation work?
An organ donation can be made by a person before they die, by a relative, or, in some states, by the person named as a medical representative in an advance health care directive (also known as a durable power of attorney for health care). Donations can only be made by relatives or representatives if the deceased has not objected to the donation during his or her life.
Every state in the U.S. has adopted some form of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act and allows adults to sign a consent form authorizing a donation. In several states you have the option to make a donation when you apply for or renew a driver’s license or state identification card. In many states you can also sign up online. Another option is to fill out a Uniform Donor Card and put it in your wallet. In some states, a minor can also sign a consent form. Though this isn’t legally binding, it lets the parents or guardians know what the minor’s wishes were.
The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act also allows you to sign a document stating that you do not want to donate, in order to prevent your relatives or representatives from making donations against your wishes. Even in states that don’t have a particular form for this, no one will be allowed to make a donation against your wishes.
The important point, of course, is to make your wishes known. You can inform your relatives, medical representatives, and health care providers—preferably in writing— about your wishes. You can also carry a Uniform Donor Card to inform emergency care providers that you wish to make a donation. Some states will include the information on your driver’s license.
It is also possible to put your wishes in a health care directive or Will, but unless that information is readily available at the time of your death, it may be discovered too late to be useful. You should understand that organ donations can only be made by that very small percentage of people who suffer brain death while their organs are still functioning. If the organs are removed in that situation they can be transplanted. But once a person dies, his or her organs are no longer useable for transplants. There are other forms of tissue, though, such as bone, cornea, heart valves, and so on, that can make a tremendous difference in someone’s life, and these can be removed up to 24 hours after the person dies. All of these decisions about donations have to be made very quickly in situations where people are not likely to be sorting through your papers. So, if you do or don’t want to donate, carry an indication of your wishes with you.
If you make your gift to a specific health care facility, your wishes might or might not be carried out. If, for example, your corneas are taken for use, but the hospital you named in your donation has no patients waiting for them, then your corneas would be sent somewhere else where they are needed according to regulations and priorities under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. |
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