I’m afraid that if I carry a signed license or donor card, they won’t do everything to save me in an accident.
Emergency responders and healthcare workers are committed to saving lives. Your survival is always their first priority. Donation is considered as an option only when every possible treatment has been exhausted and a patient is declared dead. The physicians who treat you in an emergency room are in no way connected with transplant surgeons or the medical team that would recover organs.

I’m too old to donate. You wouldn’t want anything from me!
Although the upper age limit for organ donation is usually in the 70s, each potential donor is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes, our age in years is not an accurate reflection of our health and vitality! Tissue donors can be even older. Most importantly, an older person can have a positive influence on his or her family’s discussion about donation. If you think that donation is worthwhile, then you should sign your license and talk about it with your family.

I’ve had cancer. OR I have (name a disease). I couldn’t donate.
Every potential donor is evaluated at the time of his or her death to determine the suitability of the organs or tissues for transplant. Most diseases would not rule out donation, including cancer. Everyone, regardless of health history, has the opportunity to give the gift of life.

Organ donation is disfiguring. I don’t want to be cut up.
Organ and tissue donation is a very careful surgical procedure. Great care is taken so that an open-casket service is still possible with any type of donation. Funeral arrangements can continue as scheduled.

What about Mickey Mantle? Celebrities or rich people get priority for transplant.
Celebrity transplants tend to get more publicity, so it may seem to be common. In fact, most people can only name four or five celebrity transplant recipients, yet 20,000 people like you and me receive the gift of life each year. Because organ donor programs don’t know the financial status of the recipients on the list, having lots of money does not affect who will receive organs for transplant. Mickey Mantle was very, very sick at the time he was put on the list and was unexpectedly lucky to be matched with a liver so quickly. Walter Payton, on the other hand, died after getting listed for a liver transplant.

What is brain death?
Brain death occurs when a person has an irreversible brain injury that causes all brain activity to stop permanently. Some organs are still useable after brain death. The standards for determining brain death are very strict.

Can someone recover from brain death?
No. If you hear stories about people who were brain dead and recovered, those people were not actually brain dead. They were in a deep coma with slight brain activity. They would not have been considered for donation.

I think it’s against my religion.
Most religious groups in the United States support organ donation, or the individual’s personal choice for donation. You should contact your clergy for more information regarding your denomination’s position on donation.

It’s not fair that families are charged for donation.
A donor’s family is not charged. Any cost related to the recovery of organs and tissues are ultimately paid by a recipient’s insurance company.

Will I be paid for donation?
No. It is illegal to buy or sell organs in the United States.

I've heard something about for-profit organ or tissue donation agencies. What is that all about?
It is illegal in the United States to buy or sell human organs or tissue. Organ procurement organizations oversee the donation process for human organs -- heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas and small intestines. OPOs are non-profit. Tissue recovery agencies recover human tissues -- skin, bone, veins, heart valves and connective tissue such as ligaments, tendons and cartilage. Unlike organs, tissue has to "processed" before it can be used. The processing is performed by an organization that may be for-profit or non-profit. The controversy is the concept of these organization "profiting" from processing human tissue. The Wisconsin Donor Network does not have an official stance on the issue. In the tissue processing industry, the argument against for-profit tissue processing organizations is the "commodification" of the human body and the notion of people profiting from others' death and donation of their tissue. The argument for for-profit tissue processing organizations is these organizations are able to direct more money into research and development and find more uses for tissue, resulting in being able to help more people.

Are they going to start using cloning for transplanting organs?
Cloning has been widely covered in the media recently. Theoretically, it could have an application in organ transplantation - not for cloning a human being as a source of organs, but to clone human cells to grow them into kidneys, livers, hearts, etc. At this point it's all theoretical and no one knows if it's possible. Plus, there are important ethical issues that need to be addressed. The transplant field of medicine is closely monitoring research developments but too much is unknown at this point to say if cloning for transplant is possible or appropriate.

What about those guys who received mechanical hearts recently? Why can't man-made organs be used instead of transplanting human organs?
Several men have been the recipients of new, artificial hearts recently to replace their diseased, dying ones. Early results have been very encouraging, one patient was even discharged home, but this device is still experimental at this point. Artificial hearts may hold promise as a transplant treatment someday, but considerably more research, testing and product development will be needed first. Artificial heart development for wide-spread use is still many years away, at the earliest.

Must I have an orange dot on my license to become a donor?
No. The two things necessary to indicate your wish to be an organ or tissue donor are to sign the back of your license or a donor card and share your wishes with your family. Orange “donor dots” are a helpful tool to remind family members and emergency responders of your wishes.

Is it necessary to sign my license since my family will have the ultimate decision anyway?
It’s a formal declaration by you of your wishes and is an additional reminder to your family of your wishes.

Why does my decision involve my family? It’s a personal decision to be a donor.
Very often, a signed license or donor card can’t be found at the time when someone may be eligible for donation, so family members are approached by donation representatives. Sharing your decision will relieve your family of the burden of making the decision for you at a very traumatic time. When families talk about donation, it ensures that the decisions made at the time of death are the ones that were desired.

How do they decide who gets the organs?
How bad the illness is, how long the person has been waiting and how close the blood type and other important medical factors match the recipient are part of the decision. Race, gender, age, income or social status are never considered when determining who receives an organ.

Can I choose what is donated?
Yes, on the donor card you can specify what you want to donate.

May I designate where or to whom my organs may be donated?
You may direct a donation to someone with whom you have a family or community connection. You cannot, however, restrict your donation to anyone based on their religion, race, age or reason for their disease. For example, requesting that your liver not go to a patient with a history of drug or alcohol abuse would not be allowed because it is discriminatory. Your options would be to donate or not to donate.

How many people can a single donor benefit?
One person has the potential to help more than 50 people. Donation can dramatically improve, even save, the lives of those suffering from organ failure, bone defects, burns or blindness.

Can you donate an organ while you are still alive?
Some transplants can use part of the liver. Thousands of kidney transplants are from living donors. Parts of a lung or pancreas may also be transplanted.