House Call: Sharing love through organ donation

Did you know that by being an organ donor, you can help as many as 50 people after your death? That’s a pretty impressive number, and although it is hard to think about what will happen to our bodies after death, please keep reading about the great gift of organ donation.

I’ve had multiple patients over the years who received transplanted organs. I’d like to tell you about one of them. He was a patient who I knew for over 20 years. He got a heart transplant after a case of the flu severely damaged his heart. He was a strapping Vietnam vet with a sweet wife and great kids. He lived a happy and productive life for more than 25 years and was one of the kindest and most welcoming men that I’ve ever known. When asked how he was doing he always said, “Every day is a good day.”

The reason it is possible to help so many people is because surgical techniques and post-operative medications have improved so much. Surgeons can use far more than just your liver and kidneys these days. For example, the middle ear can be used to restore hearing for some people, and skin can be used to protect a serious burn victim from life-threatening infections. For some types of transplants, such as cornea and bone, anti-rejection medication is not even required.

You might be worried that if you register to be an organ donor at http://www.lcnw.org/ or when you get or renew your driver’s license, that EMTs, doctors and nurses might not work as hard to save your life. This is never the case – in any situation. Health care professionals across the country are dedicated to saving your life ahead of any potential donation considerations. In fact, no one usually knows that you are an organ donor until all lifesaving measures have been exhausted. Once that happens, additional checks are done to ensure a person is truly dead before donation can proceed.

Another worry for some people is that they or their family will be charged for the donation process. This is also never the case. Donation recipients and their insurance companies carry the burden of these costs. If you think you are too old to be a donor or have a medical condition that would make your organs “no good” for donation, you are wrong. A 60- or 70-year-old who never smoked could have a much better set of lungs for donation than a 40-year-old who smoked for 20 years. Likewise, a medical condition that affects your vision might leave your kidneys untouched and suitable to help two people with kidney disease.

If your reservations are of a religious nature, I recommend talking to a pastor, priest, nun, rabbi, imam or other member of your clergy.

There are even some organs and tissues (e.g., a kidney, a lung, some skin) that you can donate while you are alive. Although most living donations are to a family member or a friend, it is possible to donate to someone you don’t know. No matter who you are donating to, living donors undergo rigorous physical, psychological, and emotional evaluation to ensure the safety of the donor and the recipient.

Once you decide to be an organ donor, you can have your state ID updated to indicate your generous status. Be sure your family knows your wishes. Hospitals sometimes seek consent from your family after your death even though it is not necessary if you are registered as a donor. It is my great hope that you will join me in registering to become a donor to help others have longer, healthier lives.