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List them as a drop
down menu from FAQ’s so that you can link directly
to your question.
Q. Who can become a donor?
A. All individuals can indicate their intent to
donate (persons under 18 years of age must have
parent or guardian's consent). There are no age
limitations on who can donate. The deciding factor
on whether a person can donate is the person’s
physical condition, not the person’s age. Newborns
as well as senior citizens have been organ donors.
Medical suitability for donation is determined at
the time of death.
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Q. What can be donated?
A. Organs: heart, kidney(s), pancreas, lungs, liver,
and intestines. Tissues: cornea, skin, bone marrow,
heart valves, and connective tissue.
Q. Will the identity of the recipients be
revealed to the donor family?
A. The identity of both the donor and the recipient
is confidential. Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO)
provide the donor's family with basic information
about the recipients, such as age, sex, profession
and general location. Some donor families and
recipients choose to communicate through anonymous
letter writing.
Q. Will organ/tissue donation interfere with
funeral arrangements or change the donor's
appearance?
A. Removal of organs will not interfere with
customary funeral arrangements (including open
casket services). The operation is performed as soon
as possible under standard sterile conditions in a
hospital operating room by a surgeon and operating
team. There is no alteration in the donor's
appearance following organ or tissue donation.
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Q. How do I express my wishes to become an organ
and tissue donor?
A. Register as an organ donor, and indicate your
intent to be an organ and tissue donor on your
driver’s license. Remember to carry an organ donor
card, but most importantly, discuss your decision
with family members and loved ones. Click here to
register to donate. (link to registration page)
Q. If I sign a donor card or indicate my donation
preferences on my driver’s license, will my wishes
be carried out?
A. Because of new legislation in Michigan, an
anatomical gift made by a will or a document of gift
(e.g. donor registry card) would not be revocable
after the death of the donor, making the donor's
wishes paramount. Even if you sign a donor card, it
best to share your wishes with your family.
Q. If I sign a donor card, will it affect the
quality of medical care I receive at the hospital?
A. No! Every effort is made to save your life before
donation is considered. Organ and tissue recovery
takes place only after all efforts to save your life
have been exhausted and death has been legally
declared. The medical team treating you is
completely separate from the transplant team. The
organ procurement organization (OPO) is not notified
until all lifesaving efforts have failed and death
has been determined. The OPO does not notify the
transplant team until your family has consented to
donation.
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Q. Why should minorities be particularly
concerned about organ donation?
A. Some diseases of the kidney, heart, lung,
pancreas and liver are found more frequently in
racial and ethnic minority populations than in the
general population. For example, African Americans,
Asian and Pacific Islanders and Hispanics are three
times more likely to suffer from end-stage renal
disease than people of European decent. Native
Americans are four times more likely than people of
European decent to suffer from diabetes. Some of
these diseases are best treated through
transplantation; others can ONLY be treated through
transplantation. Successful transplantation often is
enhanced by the matching of organs between members
of the same ethnic and racial group. For example, a
patient is less likely to reject a kidney if it is
donated by an individual who is genetically similar.
Generally, people are genetically more similar to
people of their own ethnicity or race than to people
of other races.
Q. Are there any costs to my family for donation?
A. The donor’s family does NOT pay for the cost of
the organ donation. All costs related to donation of
organs and tissues are paid by the recipient,
usually through insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.
Q. Can I sell my organs?
A. No! The National Organ Transplant Act (Public Law
98-507) makes it ILLEGAL to sell human organs and
tissues. Violators are subject to fines and
imprisonment. Among the reasons for this rule is the
concern of Congress that buying and selling of
organs might lead to inequitable access to donor
organs with the wealthy having an unfair advantage.
Q. How are organs distributed?
A. Patients are matched to organs based on a number
of factors including blood and tissue typing,
medical urgency, time on the waiting list, and
geographical location.
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Q. Who will receive my organs and tissues?
A. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
maintains a national waiting list for vital organs.
When an organ becomes available the list is reviewed
to determine who will receive the organ. Criteria
include distance from the donor, blood and tissue
type, current physical condition and length of time
on the waiting list. Since time is very important,
local recipients are considered first, then regional
and then national recipients. Kidneys are the most
needed organs on the waiting list. Tissue banks do
not have a national waiting list and are allocated
through local tissue banks.
Q. If I indicate on my driver’s license I want to
be a donor, is that enough?
A. Most states encourage you to sign your driver’s
license indicating your wishes. We encourage you to
register and carry a donor card in addition to your
license. Sometimes the license is separated from a
person in an accident. One of the most important
elements of becoming an organ donor is that you
discuss your wishes with your next of kin and with
your family.
Q. What is required consent or required request?
A. In 1986 legislation was passed which required all
hospitals to develop protocol to ask the next of kin
for permission to procure the organs of the patient
at the time of impending death. This is why it is so
important to discuss donation with your family when
you register as an organ donor so they will know
your wishes.
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Q. What is brain death?
A. Death occurs in two ways; cessation of
cardiopulmonary function and cessation of brain
function. Brain death occurs when a person has an
irreversible, catastrophic brain injury, which
causes all brain activity to stop permanently.
Q. Can living people donate organs?
A. Under certain circumstances, a family member can
give a kidney to another member of the immediate
family (including mother, father, sister, brother).
A living person can also donate bone marrow and
certain parts of the pancreas.
Q. Will the body try to reject the new organ?
A. Yes. The recipient's body will identify the
transplanted organ as a foreign object and will
attempt to destroy it. Medication is required to
control this reaction.
Q. What happens if the organ is rejected?
A. Specialized medications are administered and can
often correct the rejection. If the rejection cannot
be corrected, lifesaving measures must be taken.
Attempts may be made to locate another organ for
retransplantation. Due to the shortage of donated
organs, many recipients die before another organ
becomes available. Fortunately, kidney/pancreas
transplant patients can return to dialysis or
insulin therapy while awaiting a retransplant.
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Q. How do organ/tissue recovery programs learn of
potential donors?
A. When medical personnel in a hospital have
identified a potential donor, they use a 24-hour
access number to contact the O.P.O. A procurement
transplant coordinator then assists the referring
hospital and the donor family with the medical,
legal, and ethical aspects of donation.
Q. Can organs/tissues be transplanted between
sexes and races?
A. In most cases, yes. Organ size is critical to
match donor and recipient hearts, livers and lungs.
Genetic makeup between kidney donors and recipients
is more critical; due to genetic makeup, African
Americans will "match" better with a kidney donated
from an African American than any other race as will
Asians to Asians, etc.
Q. How long must a patient wait for a transplant?
A. The time a patient spends on the waiting list for
an organ can vary from a few days to several years.
The length of their wait is affected by several
factors, such as the urgency of their medical
condition and the availability of donated organs.
Tissue banks have a very limited supply of donated
skin, bone, heart valves, tendons and corneas. All
patients awaiting an organ or tissue transplant
depend upon the generosity of donors and their
families to give the "gift of life".
**Information in this section has been provided by
Gift of Life Michigan
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credit to:
www.unos.or
www.hrsa.gov
www.kidney.org
www.shareyourlife.org
www.giftoflifemichigan.org
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