Skip to main content

Organ Donation: Myths and Facts



In my experience talking to people about organ donation, trying to convince them to become donors, I have learned that many are not organ donors because of their lack of knowledge. Many people do not take the time to become educated; to learn more about the organ donation process. With over 98,000 people on the National Waiting List it is important that each and everyone of us take the time to get educated. On the Love for Ashley blog, I will highlight some of the more common myths and facts on organ donation and I will share with you important online resouces for organ donation.

Myth 1
Doctors will not do everything possible to save my life if they find out I am an organ/tissue donor.
Fact
Donation can only occur when a patient is declared brain dead. Brain death is declared by a separate team of doctors who are not affliated with the organ donor recovery team.

Myth 2
My family will be responsible for the medical bills associated with organ donation.
Fact
A family of an organ/tissue donor is never responsible for the costs related to donation. It is often the responsibility of the organ recipient and their insurance company. However, sometimes the hospital incurs the cost.

Myth 3
My religion is against organ donation.
Fact
All major religions endorse donation as the highest humanitarian act. Religious leaders, including the Pope, have all publicly supported donation.

Myth 4
I am too young or too old to be an organ/tissue donor.
Fact
People as young as newborns to age 99 have been organ donors.

Myth 5
Signing an organ donor card or having organ donation on my drivers license makes me an organ donor.
Fact
Signing an organ card is helpful but your wish to be an organ donor must be shared with your family.

To learn more about organ donation myths and facts, please visit United Network for Organ Sharing.

To learn more about Organ and Tissue Donation in America, visit Gift of a Lifetime.

To learn how to be an organ/tissue donor in your state, visit OrganDonor.gov.

Comments

Fantastic post. We're actually addressing some of these myths in a series this week you may want to check out:

http://iam-areyou.blogspot.com/2008/04/debunking-organ-donation-myths-get.html

Popular posts from this blog

Living through Dance

In just about six weeks Ashley will dance, not just any dance; she will be competing in a big regional dance competition by dancing her very first solo.  It's completely amazing, seeing Ashley dance, watching her live through dance.  When Ashley was born almost 11 1/2 years ago, I never ever thought, we never thought Ashley would live to dance much else do her first solo.  I can't believe I am crying as I type this.  I didn't think I would get emotional.  It's just amazing!  When I put her in dance at age 3, I did it because I knew I needed to stop sheltering her.  She needed to be around other children.  She needed to feel normal despite what is trying to zap the life out of her; despite her disease.  Honestly I never thought Ashley would be a good dancer or even a great dancer, I just knew dancing was safe; it was the one activity the doctors felt didn't put Ashley's life at risk.  Little did I know how much dancing did and still d...

ALF vs COTA - Loosing Sleep

What would keep a person up past 3:30 am? Decisions... As most of you know we have been using ALF (American Liver Foundation) for Ashley's Liver Transplant Fund. However, in the past year, we have found that ALF is not offering us what we need among a few other reasons which I will not blog about. When we opened Ashley's account with ALF we did so quickly after the death of my dad during Christmas 2006 and New Year 2007, we did not have time to research the best fundraising organizations. There are so many organizations out there from ALF , COTA , NTAF . But because of my dad's untimely death and because his dying wish was that friends, family, etc. donate to Ashley to help defray our medical costs, the first organization that came to mind was the American Liver Foundation. After all, Ashley does have a liver disease. Now, both my husband and I are wondering if we should have used COTA. We have also thought and inquired about opening up a local trust fund for Ashley. Howeve...

Ashley's Sick

One thing about having a child with a chronic illness is that normal illnesses just love to hang around longer. Ashley came home from school on Wednesday complaining of a headache, I took her temp and it was 101. She had no other symptoms just a fever, so of course we knew she needed to go to the doctor. However, I tried not to panic and decided to just watch her for 24 hours. On Thursday, her temperature just hovered around 99.5; Ashley's normal is around 97. She did fine most of Thursday but started complaining of a sore throat by late that evening. We woke up Friday with her planning to go back to school and me back to work but not before we went to the doctors just to make sure she didn't have strep throat. Dr. Lacy, Ashley's pediatrician, examined Ashley and didn't see anything in her throat but they did a strep test anyway; it was negative. Yesterday, Ashley's temp was normal all day, it ranged from 97.3 to 98.6. We thought maybe she was over her cold....