ABA Family Legal Guide

Health-Care Law

Specific Issues in Health Care

Organ Donation

Should I be an organ donor?

Your decision on whether to become an organ donor will not be based on legal concepts, but on your culture, religion, and values. The law does affect how your family or doctors carry out your decision. Nearly all of the world's major religions consider organ donation a gift of life to others. You may wish to ask your spiritual adviser whether your religion endorses organ donation.

Survey after survey shows that the vast majority of Americans are in favor of organ donation. Yet very few of us donate our organs. It is a very personal decision, but consider this: At this time, there are more than sixty thousand people on the waiting list for organs with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which is the national organ waiting registry. About one-third of the people that need lifesaving organs such as hearts or livers will die before an available organ is found. Now consider the possibility that one day you—or your spouse or child—could be on that list.

One concern for donors is whether donating their organs will affect how their bodies will appear at open-casket funerals. Removal of organs is a surgical procedure and rarely will interfere with funeral or burial arrangements. The law requires that hospitals and doctors treat the body with the utmost care when removing organs and tissue.