Myth versus Fact

Myth: A doctor might take organs before someone is really dead.

FACT: The declaration of death must be made and consent from the donor family must be obtained before donation can occur. Cadaveric organ donation is only possible when brain death is diagnosed and declared. Tissue donation is possible when death results either from cardiac arrest or neurological cessation. After brain death, the body’s organs can be maintained with ventilator and circulatory support for a short period before losing viability for transplantation. Even though death has occurred, the body may appear to be alive for a short period of time because of this support. Medical personnel may mistakenly refer to the mechanical support as “life support”. Mechanical maintenance of a dead body is not the same as providing and removing support from a living patient. Brain death and the maintenance process should be clearly understood by donor families. Health care professionals can help by precisely explaining death and the donation process.

Myth: Doctors might let one patient die so that they can save others with transplants.

FACT: The physician who attends a patient at the time of death is not involved with the transplant programs operations or administration or with potential recipients. This is both required by law and ethical medical practice.

Procurement coordinators serve as intermediaries between donor hospital/attending physicians and transplant programs and teams. The donor hospital notifies the procurement organization when a possible donor is identified. The attending staff is fully focused on the care of the patient. Donation is considered only after all efforts have been made to save the patient’s life. At this point, there may be some interaction by the attending staff with procurement coordinators.

Myth: If I am in an accident and the hospital knows that I want to be a donor, the doctors will not try to save my life.

FACT: 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 staff treating you is completely separate from the organ recovery agency and the transplant team. This is both required by law and ethical medical practice. The organ recovery agency does not notify the transplant team until your family has consented to donation.


Myth: Donation will increase the hospital charges billed to the donor families.

FACT: Donation costs the donor family nothing. All costs associated with the donation procedures are charged to the procurement organization and then passed on to the transplant center which bills the transplant recipient and his/her insurer.

The donor family is responsible for the costs of all medical care not related to the donation and for funeral expenses - as they would be in any case.


Myth: Donation disfigures the body. It won’t be possible to have an open casket funeral.

FACT: Donation does not disfigure the body. Donation is a surgical procedure performed in a sterile operating room. The donor’s body is treated with the same care and respect as any surgical patient. When bone is donated, synthetic prostheses are implanted to maintain skeletal structure. Skin donation may give the appearance of a light sunburn, but is usually not apparent. Because there is no disfigurement and no obvious suturing, donation does not interfere with the family’s choice of funeral plans, including open casket.


Myth: Donation takes a long time and will delay the funeral.

FACT: Donation occurs within a few hours of the family giving consent. The time available between declaration of death and donation is 12 to 24 hours for most organs and tissues. After donation surgery, the body is immediately released to the funeral service, and funeral and visitation plans can proceed.

When the case involves the medical examiner’s office, the medical examiner, with the consent of next of kin, will release the body to the procurement organization for retrieval of organs and tissues. After the autopsy, the medical examiner will release the body to the funeral home.


Myth: Transplants are still experimental procedures with questionable outcomes.

FACT: Transplantation of vital organs, in most cases, is regarded as therapeutic, standard medical practice. Kidney transplantation in 2002 has a one year patient survival rate of better than 97 percent; heart transplants, 84 percent; and liver transplants, 85 percent. Even the relatively new pancreas transplant procedures offer a one year patient survival rate of 83 percent. Tissue transplants can restore sight, mobility, heart action, circulation, and hearing; repair damaged skin, bone, and muscle; and help speed the healing process.


Myth: People can sell organs to make a lot of money.

FACT: It is against the law to sell organs under the Federal National Organ Transplant Act (Public Law 98-507) and under state statutes. Anyone convicted of violating the federal law is subject to a maximum of five years imprisonment. Violation of the state statute is a second degree felony carrying a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and up to $10,000 fine.

Organ procurement organizations (OPOs), such as LAORA, coordinate all activities associated with donation, including distribution and nonprofit services certified and monitored by the U.S. Government’s Health Care Financial Administration. While the sale of organs is prohibited, state statutes do permit the recovery of reasonable costs associated with removal, storage, and transplantation of organs and tissue.


Myth: Wealthy people or those with celebrity status get the donated organ. It's not fair to those with fewer resources.

FACT: A person becomes eligible to receive a donated organ or organs by getting on the national list of transplant candidates. The decision to proceed with transplant as a medical treatment is made by the patient and his or her doctor. The patient is evaluated for transplant based on a variety of medical, psychological, and financial criteria. When the patient meets the evaluation criteria, his or her name and needs are entered on the national waiting list. Publicity about fundraising for transplants often leaves the inaccurate impression that individuals are raising money to pay for organs. In fact, these are generally uninsured patients and their families who are seeking funding to satisfy the financial requirements of the transplant program before they can be included on the waiting list.

The waiting list is maintained by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a non-profit service headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

UNOS was established under the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 and serves transplant centers, physicians, and procurement organizations nationwide. The role of UNOS is to match available organs with potential recipients, based on strict criteria that include: medical urgency, tissue and blood type, time on the waiting list, and geographic proximity.

The system is designed to assure fairness. Once a patient is on the waiting list, he or she is guaranteed that every effort is being made to locate the needed organ or organs as quickly as possible. There is no way a person can “buy” higher priority on the waiting list. The only exception to the listing process is direct donation, such as a donation between living relatives.


Myth: Donation is against our religion.

FACT: Most major organized religions support donation as a humanitarian act in keeping with religious doctrine. The Roman Catholic Church, Protestant faiths, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism all regard donation as a personal decision for individual members. Families who have religious questions are advised to consult with their personal spiritual advisors. Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency (LAORA) works with clergy members to help clear up misunderstandings and provide appropriate counsel on religious viewpoints.


Myth: If I donate, my organs will probably not benefit someone in my local community.

FACT: Geographical proximity is a key criterion in organ distribution. When a donation is made, the procurement organization first attempts to place the organ in the immediate area or within the state. If a qualified recipient is not found locally, the search then turns to the national list. Every effort is made to find recipients as close as possible to the donation site.


Myth: I’ve heard about a business traveler who is heavily drugged, then awakes to find that he or she has had one kidney (or sometimes both) removed for a black market transplant.

FACT: This tale has been widely circulated over the internet. There is absolutely no evidence of such activity ever occurring in the U.S. or any other industrialized country. While the tale may sound credible, it has no basis in the reality of organ transplantation.


Myth: Signing a donor card is meaningless. My family will be making all the decisions when I’m gone.

FACT: Signing a donor card, combined with family discussion of donation, is the most certain method of having one’s wishes carried out. A signed and witnessed donor card is a legal document. It is a positive statement to family and physicians that the individual wants to consent to be a donor. Consent to donation is required from the donor’s legal next of kin. This decision must be made quickly. A signed donor card tells the next of kin that their loved one has thoughtfully considered donation, and made his or her own decision.

Signing donor cards also tends to initiate family discussions about donation. If you would like additional information or donor cards, please contact LAORA’s Community Affairs & Public Relations Office at 800-232-2892.