Organ Donation Questions, Answered

Medical care is not affected in any way by your status as a registered donor. After an accident or injury, every attempt will be made to save your life by each health care professional involved in your care. Their first priority is always to save your life.

The doctors and nurses who provide your medical care are separate from the donation process. Donation is considered only after every effort has been made to save you and it has been determined that you can become a donor.

They cannot. Enrollment on the Joshua Abbott Organ and Tissue Donor Registry by anyone 18 years or older grants authorization for donation to take place.

Should you be in a position to donate, your next of kin or legal guardian will be presented with documentation of your registration, but they cannot override your decision. Enrollment on the registry by those under the age of 18 is not binding.

Most major eastern and western religions either support donation or leave the decision up to the individual.

Each donor is treated with great respect and dignity throughout the donation process, and the donor’s appearance following donation will allow for an open-casket funeral. Once the organ and/or tissue recovery process is completed, the body is released to the donor’s family for funeral arrangements.

Yes. People living with HIV can become organ donors after death. The 2013 HOPE (HIV Organ Policy Equity) Act allows people with HIV to donate organs to patients who also have HIV and are waiting for a transplant.

Organs are allocated nationwide based on a complex medical formula established by transplant doctors, public representatives, ethicists and organ recovery agencies. The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) maintains the list of patients waiting for transplants, and a potential donor’s blood type, tissue type, body weight and size are matched against patients on the list. Priority is given to the sickest patients or in the case of kidneys, those who have been on the waiting list the longest.

Factors such as race, gender, age, income or celebrity status are never considered when determining who receives an organ.

The identity of all parties remains strictly confidential. However, donor families and transplant recipients may receive limited, non-identifying information such as age and gender of the donor or recipients.

LifeQuest encourages both recipients and donor families to write to each other, as this type of communication often helps ease the pain of a tragic death. If there is a mutual interest in direct communication, our family services staff will facilitate that.