SHOULD YOU BE AN ORGAN DONOR?

Along with authorizing organ donation with the use of a donor card (often your driver’s license,) you can state your organ donation wishes in your estate planning documents. This can be done in a separate organ donation form.

Take the following things into consideration when considering implementing organ donation into your planning.

By donating organs and tissues, you can help contribute to medical advances as well as save lives.

The following organs are tissue transplants are common:

• Liver
• Heart
• Skin
• Kidney
• Lung
• Bone
• Connective tissue
• Pancreas

If you want to contribute to medical science and/or save up to eight lives, you may want to include an organ donor form among your estate planning documents.

With proper planning you can do the following:

• Choose which organs or tissue that you want donated
• Decide which organs or tissue you do not want donated
• What purpose you want your donation to have (research, education, transplant)
• Decide if you want your entire body donated to medical research

Although you have the ability to specify, most folks simply indicate that they are organ donors without restriction.

Should you be an organ donor?

Choosing whether to be an organ donor is your own personal decision. Take some time to think about your own personal beliefs and values. Know that if you choose to be an organ donor you could make a difference in another person’s life and the medical world.