Organ Donation: The Gift of Life


The Wait

How Many People Are Waiting?

More than 112,000 Americans are waiting for an organ transplant. Kidney and liver are the two most sought after organs according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Currently, donated organs are distributed within local areas, then in several regions, then nationally.

How Are Organs Matched to a Transplant Candidate?

It is illegal for people to buy or sell organs in the United States. Organs are matched to transplant candidates by a complex point system devised by UNOS that considers blood type, time spent on a waiting list, medical urgency, and other factors. Transplant candidates are assigned a status starting with the most ill and moving down through other classifications.

The Transplant

Who Are the Transplant Recipients?

"The sooner surgeons can get an organ inside a patient and the fresher the organ, the better the patient's chances are," says Bob Spieldennen, UNOS spokesman.
Since so many factors must be coordinated, many health plans assign a case worker to organ transplant candidates. Treatment often includes psychological and spiritual counseling for the entire family prior to the transplant, and then follow-up reminders about diet, exercise, lifestyle, and medicines after the surgery. Any organ transplant requires life-long doses of anti-rejection medicines that have a number of side effects.
"If there is any area of health and medicine where the consumer must really educate himself, it is with organ transplants," says Spieldennen.

Who Is on the Transplant Team?

A typical transplant team includes the surgeon, a specialty doctor, an infectious disease doctor, a social worker, pastoral care staff, a psychologist, a nurse transplant coordinator, and the health plan's case manager. When a health plan evaluates a candidate for transplant, they usually consider the patient's age and health, the support of family members, substance abuse, and other factors.

The Decision to Be a Donor

In reality, most organized religions support organ donation. They typically consider it a generous act that is the person's or the family's choice. Moreover, donated organs are removed surgically in a routine operation similar to gallbladder or appendix removal. Donation does not disfigure a loved one nor change the way he looks in a casket. Normal funeral arrangements are possible.


Here is what potential donors often ask UNOS staff members:
Who can become a donor?
What can I donate?
Does it cost anything to donate organs and tissues?
No. Donation costs nothing to the donor's family or estate.
Is there an age limit for donating organs?
What medical conditions exclude a person from donating organs?

A Second Chance at Life

Organ recipients must closely monitor their health, diet, exercise, lifestyle, and medicines, but otherwise they live normal, active lives. Many recipients are so overjoyed about a second chance at life that they compete in the annual winter and summer World Transplant Games, a series of Olympic-style events for athletic people who have received a major organ.


Donate Life

United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)


Canadian Association of Transplantation

Trillium Gift of Life Network


Data. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network website. Available at: Accessed December 16, 2011.

Data. United Network for Organ Sharing website. Available at: Updated December 15, 2009. Accessed December 15, 2009.

The need is real: data. Organ website. Available at: Accessed December 16, 2011.

Organ procurement and transplantation network. All Kaplan-Meier median waiting times for registrations listed: 1999-2004 based on OPTN data as of December 11, 2009. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, United States Department of Health and Human Services website. Available at: Updated December 14, 2009. Accessed December 16, 2009.

Tissue donation: restoring quality of life. The Gift of a Lifetime website. Available at: Accessed December 16, 2011.

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