Approximately how many people in the United
States are in need of an organ transplant and why
is this an important topic?
According to a government study, 74 people a day receive an organ transplant,
but 18 people a day die waiting for a transplant.
Approximately 92,000 people are on the national transplant waiting
list.
What laws regulate organ donation?
The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) of 1968 established the use of
a wallet-sized organ donation cards.
The Patient Self Determination Act of 1991 is intended to make a patient’s
wishes regarding donation binding.
Currently all hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid are
required to ask the family members of someone who has just died if they
want the organs to be donated.
What if the family members do not want the hospital to honor
the organ donor card of a deceased patient; can the family stop the
organ donation?
Most hospitals view a donation card as a promise or statement of intent
that ceases to be binding upon the patient’s death.
So typically the hospital will leave it is up to the surviving family
members to decide if that promise should be kept.
What rights and responsibilities does the donor’s family
face?
Organ donors and their survivors do not have to pay anything for the
procedure.
The information is kept confidential, so the recipient can’t contact
the donors family unless you want to be contacted.
A donor does not face liability for failure of the organ or the transplant
procedure.
Donate Life. If anyone would like to be a donor, you can print out a
donor card from the web address on the screen.
