There are more than 104,500 individuals waiting for organs in the U.S.
There are more than 28,000 organ transplants performed each year in the U.S.
Someone, is added to the Waiting List every 11 minutes.
6,500 patients will die every year; an average of 18 per day.
Transplantation:
Transplantation of organs is no longer considered experimental, but is an accepted treatment of certain end-stage diseases.
Organs are offered to people on the waiting list based solely on medical and waiting time factors, regardless of their financial or social standing.
Consent:
Permission from the next-of-kin is always obtained prior to the recovery of organs and tissue.
No donation can happen until a declaration of death has been made and the family of the donor has given permission for donation.
Health Care Before Donation:
Every effort to save an individual’s life is performed before a patient is considered a potential donor.
Transplant physicians are not involved in the determination of death in brain dead patients; death is pronounced by physicians who are in no way involved in the transplant process.
Death is not pronounced prematurely in order for the individual to become an organ donor.
Organ and tissue recovery is done as a sterile, surgical procedure and is in no way different from routine surgery in living patients.
Costs Involved with Donating:
It does not cost anything to be a donor. No costs directly related to organ and tissue donation are passed on to the family.
The buying and selling of human organs is illegal.