Common myths and FAQs about donation

Common myths and FAQs about donation are the recurring misconceptions and frequently asked questions that surround organ, eye, and tissue donation, together with the factual answers given by the public authorities that oversee donation in the United States. [1][2] Surveys and educational programs run by federal health agencies and non-profit registries consistently find that beliefs unsupported by medical, legal, or religious fact discourage some people from registering as donors, and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), through its public-education site organdonor.gov, maintains a standing list of these myths alongside corrective information. [1] This article restates the most common misconceptions neutrally and pairs each with the position of an authoritative public source. It is descriptive and does not give medical, legal, or religious advice; individuals with specific questions are directed to their clinicians, attorneys, or faith leaders, and to the primary sources cited below.

For the underlying topics, see Organ donation, Deceased donation, Living donation, and How to register as an organ donor.

Myth: "Doctors won't try as hard to save me if I'm a registered donor"

A frequently cited fear is that registering as a donor will cause emergency or hospital staff to provide less aggressive care. Public authorities state that this is not the case. [1][3] The medical professionals who treat a sick or injured patient are working to save that patient's life and are separate from the donation and transplantation teams; donation is not considered until after death has been declared by physicians who are not part of the transplant team. [1][3] organdonor.gov states that the hospital staff treating a patient are not the same people involved in recovering or transplanting organs, and that the priority of the treating team is always to save the patient's life. [1] Donation is considered only after all efforts to save a life have failed and death has been legally declared. [1][3]

Myth: "If they see the donor mark, they'll let me die"

A related version of the previous misconception holds that a donor designation on a driver's license or in a registry will be visible to first responders or emergency-department staff and will affect the care a patient receives. The corrective is the same: the medical team's obligation and focus is to save the patient, donation status is not a factor in the treatment a patient receives, and the question of donation arises only after death is declared by clinicians who are independent of the transplant process. [1][3] See Deceased donation for the sequence by which donation is considered only after death.

Myth: "I'm too old or not healthy enough to donate"

Public sources state that there is no strict age limit for organ donation and that age or a history of illness does not by itself disqualify a person from donating. [1][3] Whether organs and tissues can be used is a medical decision made at the time of death, organ by organ, based on the condition of each organ and tissue, rather than on a candidate's age. [1][3] People across a wide range of ages and medical histories have been donors, and the health of the organs is more relevant than the donor's age. [3] Because suitability is assessed at the time of death, prospective donors are generally encouraged to register regardless of age or health and to let medical professionals determine what can be used. [1]

Myth: "My religion prohibits donation"

Most major religious traditions support or permit organ and tissue donation, and several regard it as an act of charity or generosity. [1][3] Sources including organdonor.gov and Donate Life America summarize that donation is consistent with the beliefs of most major religions, including Roman Catholicism, Islam, most branches of Judaism, and most Protestant denominations. [3] Because religious teaching varies among traditions and among authorities within a tradition, individuals with questions about their faith's position are encouraged to consult their own religious leaders; this article presents the general summary neutrally and does not adjudicate any specific doctrine. [1][3]

Myth: "Rich or famous people get priority on the waiting list"

The U.S. system allocates deceased-donor organs using medical and logistical factors only, not wealth, celebrity, or social status. [4] When an organ becomes available, the national computer system operated for the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) generates a ranked "match run" of candidates according to OPTN policy. [4] The factors used include blood type, immune-system (HLA) compatibility, organ size, medical urgency and severity of illness, time spent waiting, and the distance between the donor and transplant hospitals; candidates who are medically incompatible with the donor are automatically screened out. [4] The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the longtime OPTN contractor, states that the allocation system is blind to wealth or social status and that personal or social factors such as fame or income have no influence on priority. [4] See OPTN allocation policy, The match run, and National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA).

Myth: "I can't have an open-casket funeral after donating"

Organ, eye, and tissue donation does not generally prevent an open-casket funeral. [1][3] Donation is carried out by trained surgical and recovery professionals with care for the donor's body, the body is clothed for burial, and there are typically no visible signs of donation. [3] organdonor.gov states that a person can donate organs, eyes, and tissues and still have an open-casket service. [1][3]

Myth: "My family will be charged for donating my organs"

The donor's family is not charged for the costs of organ and tissue donation. [1][3] A family pays for the deceased person's medical care and funeral costs, but does not pay for the recovery of donated organs or tissue; the costs associated with donation are borne by the organ procurement organization (OPO) and, ultimately, the transplant programs and recipients' insurers rather than the donor family. [1][3] Donor families are likewise not paid for donation. [3] The prohibition on buying and selling organs is addressed below.

Myth: "There is a black market and I can be paid for my organs"

In the United States it is a federal crime to buy or sell human organs for transplantation. [5] The National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 (NOTA) makes it unlawful to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human organ for "valuable consideration" for use in human transplantation where the transfer affects interstate commerce, a violation punishable by a fine of up to $50,000 or up to five years' imprisonment, or both. [5] "Valuable consideration" is interpreted broadly to cover cash, property, services, or other items of economic value, but the statute expressly excludes reasonable payments for the removal, transportation, processing, preservation, quality control, and storage of an organ, and the donor's expenses of travel, housing, and lost wages; it also does not apply to kidney paired donation. [5] These provisions are the legal basis for the principle that donors and their families are neither paid nor charged. See National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA).

Myth: "Brain death isn't really death and I might recover"

Under U.S. law, death may be determined either by the irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or by the irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brainstem. [6] The latter standard, commonly called brain death, is set out in the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA), promulgated in 1981 and adopted in some form by the great majority of U.S. jurisdictions. [6] Brain death is medically and legally distinct from a coma or a persistent vegetative state: in brain death there is irreversible loss of all brain function, including the brainstem-controlled drive to breathe, whereas a person in a coma or vegetative state retains some brain or brainstem activity and has not been declared legally dead. [6] A determination of brain death is therefore a determination of death, not a state from which recovery is expected. [6]

The medical and legal coherence of the whole-brain standard is the subject of ongoing scholarly and policy discussion, and the Uniform Law Commission has had a committee studying possible revisions to the UDDA since 2021. [6] This article presents the prevailing legal and medical standard and notes that debate without endorsing any position; the contested questions are treated more fully in Uniform Determination of Death Act and brain death and The dead donor rule.

Frequently asked questions

How do I register as a donor? A person can register in a state donor registry online, through the National Donate Life Registry at organdonor.gov or registerme.org, or when applying for or renewing a driver's license or state ID at a motor-vehicle office. [7][8] Registration is a legal record of the decision to donate; see How to register as an organ donor.

Can living people donate? Yes. A living person can donate a kidney, a portion of the liver, and less commonly other organs or partial organs, in addition to certain tissues; living donation is arranged through a transplant center, separately from the deceased-donor registry. [1] See Living donation and What can be donated.

Does donation cost the donor's family anything? No. The family is not charged for the costs of donation, although it remains responsible for the deceased person's medical care and funeral expenses. [1][3]

Can I choose what to donate? Registries generally allow a person to indicate which organs and tissues they wish to donate, or to donate for transplantation, research, or both, depending on the state registry. [1][7] See What can be donated.

Can I change my mind or remove myself? Yes. A registered donor can update or withdraw a donor designation at any time through the state registry where the registration was made; because a donor mark on a driver's license is maintained separately, a person who removes a registry entry may also need to update the license through the motor-vehicle office. [7][9]

See also

• How to register as an organ donor
• What can be donated
• Organ donation
• Deceased donation
• Living donation
• OPTN allocation policy
• The match run
• National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA)
• Uniform Determination of Death Act and brain death
• The dead donor rule

References

• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) / OrganDonor.gov. "Organ Donation FAQ." https://www.organdonor.gov/learn/faq
• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) / OrganDonor.gov. "Information about Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation." https://www.organdonor.gov/
• Mayo Clinic. "Organ donation: Don't let these myths confuse you." https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/organ-donation/art-20047529
• United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). "How we match organs." https://unos.org/transplant/how-we-match-organs/
• Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. "42 U.S. Code § 274e - Prohibition of organ purchases." https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/274e
• Lewis A., et al. "Brain Death." StatPearls / NCBI Bookshelf, NBK538159. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538159/
• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) / OrganDonor.gov. "Sign Up To Be An Organ Donor." https://www.organdonor.gov/sign-up
• Donate Life America. "Register to be an Organ, Eye and Tissue Donor (National Donate Life Registry)." https://registerme.org/
• Donate Life America. "Locate & Manage Your Donor Registration." https://donatelife.net/donation/donor-registries/removing-yourself-from-a-donor-registry/