Donation Facts
Everyone can be a potential eye and tissue donor.
The criteria for donation is different depending on the type of tissue, and is designed with the recipient patient’s best interests in mind. If a donor’s tissue cannot be used for transplant due to medical conditions or age, it can be directed to critical medical research or can be used for physician training.
The gift of tissue donation is made anonymously.
Information about the donor is not available to recipients or their families unless it is mutually requested by both parties.
Donation is more than organs.
Many types of tissue can be used to help others: corneas and other eye tissue, bones, tendons, ligaments, heart valves, veins, and skin can all be used to bring health and hope to others.
Donation is not discussed until all efforts to save a life have failed.
If someone is sick, injured or admitted to a hospital, the first priority is to save that person’s life. If all possible efforts have failed, and physicians have certified that death has occurred, family is then asked about giving the gift of eye and tissue donation.
All major religions approve of donation.
Many actively encourage it as a way to give back to others.
There is no cost to become a donor.
There is no financial cost to the donor or their family for eye and tissue donation.
Donation will not interfere with funeral arrangements
Tissue is recovered shortly after death, so there is no need to delay a funeral. Technicians take great care to preserve the donor’s appearance, and a viewing or open casket is still possible. Through the entire donation process, the body is treated with care, respect and dignity.
Many people need your help.
Each year in the United States, more than 30,000 corneal transplants are performed. Donated bone is used in over a half million procedures each year. Hundreds of burn patients are treated with the healing power of donated skin.
You need to tell your family and loved ones about your decision to donate.
Signing and carrying the attached donor card, or having a donor designation on your driver’s license is an important step towards becoming an eye donor. But your family will be involved in the final decision, and experience shows that families are more willing to agree to donate a loved one’s tissue if they have had prior conversations about donation. Sharing your decision now will help them carry out your wishes later.
