Organ Donation – Part 1
Posing several questions and answering:
- Is it difficult to register my organ donation choice?
- Should I worry about my organs being taken before I’m done with them? Yikes!
April was Organ Donation Awareness Month. Yes, I missed the boat, having gotten carried away with a 5-part series about the “stuff” of your estate!
Better late than never.
These are questions about organ donation that I intend to answer:
- Is it difficult to register my organ donation choice?
- Should I worry about my organs being taken before I’m done with them? Yikes!
- Might my body be used as a teaching tool for medical students?
- Should I register as a donor even if I believe that my lifestyle or medical condition might make my organs unusable?
- If I’m passionate about my viable organs saving lives after I’m done with them, should I also put that wish in my will? What about in my representation agreement? Is there anything else I can do?
The BC Transplant website says that 1.6 million of us have registered as organ donors.
That seems like a big number, but with BC’s population estimated at 5.7 million, that’s only 28% of us.
I suspect that uncertainty about the first four questions I posed might explain that low percentage.
Is it difficult to register my organ donation choice?
It’s so quick and easy!
Click this link: https://register.transplant.bc.ca/.
If you’re reading a printed copy of this column, use “Organ donation BC” as a search in your browser. A top choice will be a BC Transplant page called “Register as an Organ Donor” where you will find a “Register your Decision” button.
You will be taken to a quick online form asking for your name, birth date and contact information. You’ll also need your Personal Health Number.
After filling out the form, click “yes” to the prompt: “I consent to help save lives by becoming an organ and tissue donor after my death” and a list of organs will pop up (heart, liver, etc.), each pre-checked.
If, for whatever reason, you don’t want a type of organ included you can un-check it.
Then there’s this option: “After donation my organs and tissues may also be used for research”.
I asked a high-level representative of BC Transplant what that means, concerned that checking off that option might result in my organs being sliced and diced and studied in some laboratory.
I was reassured. You are consenting only to research specific to organ donation and transplantation, not to independent research of the organs. This added question is to allow for research to help improve the organ donation and transplantation process.
If, for whatever reason, it turns out that the organ cannot be used for transplantation, it is not separately retained for study.
The only other part of the form is a textbox where you can type a message to be presented to your family or loved ones at the time of donation.
If quick and easy is your jam, there’s no need to type anything into that textbox! I’ll explain how that textbox might have value when answering the fifth question.
Should I worry about my organs being taken before I’m done with them?
Short answer: no.
The Human Tissue Gift Act provides that your death must be determined by at least two medical professionals and neither of them can have any association with any intended recipients of your organs.
In practice, there are two added protections:
- The medical folks looking after your care are kept in the dark about your organ donation wishes. They cannot access your organ donor registration status, and
- After they’ve determined that you are deceased and find out your organ donation registration status, your next-of-kin will be consulted. If they don’t give the thumbs up, there’s no donation.
I’m not terribly happy about the next-of-kin veto. I don’t like the idea of my next-of-kin getting in the way of my organ donation decision. I was told that its purpose is in case I’ve told my next-of-kin that I changed my mind about being a donor.
I am going to ensure that my wife and others close to me are crystal clear about my organ donation decision so that there’s no uncertainty in their minds that could lead to a veto.
Stay tuned. Next week I plan to continue answering the questions I posed at the beginning of this column.
