What is the organ donation process?

Please note the information below is provided for general information purposes only. Please consult a qualified, relevant authorized officer in your respective country prior to making any final decisions.

Death

For a person to be a deceased organ donor, that person has to die in very specific circumstances. This could be for instance an accident, illness, severe head trauma, a brain aneurysm or stroke.

In such circumstances, the patient is put on artificial or mechanical support, which keeps blood with oxygen flowing to the organs. The medical team does everything possible to save the patient's life. At this point, whether or not the person is a registered donor is not considered.

Source: OrganDonor.gov

Brain Death

Even though the medical team members do everything they can to save the patient's life, sometimes the injuries are too severe and the patient dies.

If the patient is dead and is not responding, physicians will perform a series of tests to determine if brain death has occurred. A patient who is brain dead has no brain activity and cannot breathe on his or her own. Brain death is death and it is irreversible. Someone who is brain dead cannot recover.

Only after brain death has been confirmed and the time of death noted, can organ donation become a possibility.

Source: OrganDonor.gov

Referral / Evaluation

When brain death is declared, a representative from a relevant organ procurement organization, will travel to the hospital immediately to assess if the patient is medically suitable to be an organ donor.

Authorization

The representative will check the organ donor registry to see if the deceased is registered as a donor. Depending on the country, if the deceased is not registered as an organ donor, the next of kin is offered the opportunity to donate the patient's organs and tissues. Laws and exact procedures in this process may vary from country to country. Please check with a relevant authorized institution in your country for exact details.

Source: OrganDonor.gov, LifeGift.org, Gift of Life Michigan

Matching

Organs that are viable for donation will be matched to the most suitable patient(s) based on matching criteria such as blood type, and other medical criteria, from a national transplant database which contains details of all patients on the national transplant waiting list. During the process of searching for a match, machines will keep the patient's organs continuously fed with oxygen-rich blood, and the condition of each organ is carefully monitored by hospital staff.

The exact matching process can vary greatly from country to country. Please consult with a relevant, authorized representative in your country.

Source: OrganDonor.gov, Gift of Life Michigan

Organ Recovery

Depending on the country, the transplant surgical team takes over during the organ recovery process (in the United States for instance, the transplant team that recovers the organs, and the medical team that tried to save the patient's life are never the same team).

The transplant surgical team remove the organs from the donor's body in an operating room. First, organs are recovered, and then additional authorized tissues such as bone, cornea, and skin. All incisions are surgically closed. Organ donation does not interfere with open-casket funerals.

Organs remain healthy only for a short period of time after removal from the donor, so minutes count. The organ procurement representative arranges the transportation of the organs to the hospitals of the intended recipients. Transportation depends on the distance involved, and depending on the country, can include ambulances, helicopters, and commercial airplanes.

Organ Transplantation

The organ(s) are transplanted after the transport team arrives at the hospital with the new organ. The transplant recipient is typically waiting at the hospital and may already be in the operating room awaiting the arrival of the lifesaving organ.

Surgical teams work around the clock as needed to transplant the new organs into the waiting recipients.

Source: OrganDonor.gov