13 Myths About Organ Donation, Debunked

More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are currently on the national waiting list for an organ transplant. Sadly, the chronic shortage of donated organs means that over 6000 patients every year die while waiting for one. The need for donors continues to rise due to an aging population, higher rates of obesity-related organ failure, and other factors.

To complicate matters further, false beliefs about organ donation persist. Let’s debunk 13 of the most common myths.

1. Myth: Everyone who signs up to be an organ donor will end up being one.
2. Myth: You can donate organs only when you’re dead.
3. Myth: Your organs could be harvested prematurely.
4. Myth: Only family members can donate and receive kidneys.
5. Myth: Doctors don’t work as hard to save the lives of organ donors.
6. Myth: You have to be young to donate organs. 
7. Myth: There’s an age limit for receiving donated organs.
8. Myth: You have to be in perfect health to be an organ donor.
9. Myth: Organ donors can’t have open-casket funerals.
10. Myth: Your family will be charged for your organ donation.
11. Myth: Rich and powerful people are prioritized as recipients.
12. Myth: Many religions prohibit organ donation.
13. Myth: You can become an organ donor only when you get a driver’s license.

Myth: Everyone who signs up to be an organ donor will end up being one.

In the U.S., 170 million people have registered as donors, which seems like a lot—but few will be able to actually donate. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) coordinates the transfer of donated organs to recipients, and successful transplants depend on many factors. One variable is the time that organs remain viable once they’re procured. The windows are short: four hours for a heart, 24 for a liver, and 36 for a kidney. Only 0.3 percent of people die in a setting that allows for timely donation.

Myth: You can donate organs only when you’re dead.

Not true: Living donors can choose to part with a single kidney; a piece of their liver; a small section of a lung, pancreas, or intestine; and certain tissues. These organs either regenerate themselves or continue functioning despite missing the donated portions. 

Myth: Your organs could be harvested prematurely.

Hearts, both lungs, both kidneys, the entire liver or pancreas, and even hands and faces can be donated only by a deceased person. But how sure are the physicians that donors are really dead, and not just in a coma?

Since the first successful organ transplant in 1954, the “dead donor rule” (DDR) has been the cornerstone of the practice. This ethic states that a donor must be dead before procurement of organs starts and that donation itself won’t cause the death of the donor. Doctors make a determination that a person is dead with no chance of resuscitation before turning the body over to an organ procurement organization (OPO), a nonprofit that handles the removal of the organs.

In cases of brain death—meaning a person is biologically alive with the help of medical devices, with no hope of recovery or regaining consciousness—multiple doctors have to sign off to make that declaration. In those situations, patients’ advance directives determine when doctors cease medical intervention. 

Myth: Only family members can donate and receive kidneys.

Kidneys are, by far, the most needed organs: 86 percent of people on the national waiting list need one. It’s true that recipients’ bodies are less likely to reject kidneys donated by relatives, but a blood relationship is not a requirement for giving or receiving one. Many factors, including blood type and the health of the organ itself, are considered prior to transplant.

Myth: Doctors don’t work as hard to save the lives of organ donors.

There is zero evidence doctors and nurses treat the 170 registered million organ donors differently than the other half of the U.S. population. Medical professionals are bound by the Hippocratic oath to do no harm, and could open themselves to career-ending malpractice lawsuits and professional discipline if they simply let a patient die. 

And there’s no incentive for an attending clinician to neglect patients for the purpose of organ donation. Most have no direct relationship to the OPO that manages the donation.

Myth: You have to be young to donate organs. 

Just like with donating blood, there’s no age limit for donating organs. According to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, 40 percent of donated organs come from people over 50. The agency highlights one donor named Carleton who died at age 92 and whose liver saved a 69-year-old woman’s life—but he isn’t the record holder. 

In June 2024, 98-year-old World War II and Korean War veteran Orville Allen passed away after a fall; his family was surprised to learn that he was eligible to donate his liver. The organ went to a 72-year-old woman. “It turned it from being such a sad loss of our dad to having this little ray of joy because he was doing what he’d done all his life,” Allen’s daughter, Linda Mitchelle, told the AP. “He was giving one more gift.”

The prior record holder was believed to be West Virginia resident Cecil Lockhart, 95, who donated his liver in 2021.

Myth: There’s an age limit for receiving donated organs.

There’s no official cutoff age for receiving a donated organ, but each transplant program sets its own criteria. Some may accept patients up to a certain age and other programs may have no age requirements. About two-thirds of donated organs are transplanted in people 50 or older; about a quarter of recipients are 65 or older.

Myth: You have to be in perfect health to be an organ donor.

Only a few specific factors would entirely bar someone from donating. A person with an active, spreading cancer or infection, such as viral meningitis or tuberculosis, wouldn’t be eligible. But even if a person had a chronic disease, they could still be able to donate unaffected organs: a deceased person who had diabetes, for example, probably wouldn’t donate their pancreas, but could still provide their heart or lungs. And many people in less-than-perfect health can still donate skin, corneas, and other tissues. 

Myth: Organ donors can’t have open-casket funerals.

OPOs are sensitive to families who want to have a viewing for their loved one. In the hours after a donor’s death, the organs are removed and incisions are closed. The body is turned over to their family 24 to 36 hours later to be prepared and clothed for an open-casket service according to the family’s wishes.

Myth: Your family will be charged for your organ donation.

Neither the donor nor their family pays to donate organs. Given the ongoing shortage, hospitals would be foolish to make it harder for willing people and their families to sign up. The recipient or their insurance company is usually responsible for any costs related to the procedure.

Myth: Rich and powerful people are prioritized as recipients.

In the U.S., most organs and recipients are matched through the United Network for Organ Sharing. The organization determines the best-matched recipient by evaluating factors like medical urgency, the recipient’s time spent on the waiting list, and the likelihood that the transplant will work. Social status is never a consideration.

Myth: Many religions prohibit organ donation.

No major religious tradition in the U.S., from Amish to Unitarian Universalist, prohibits organ donation by its followers. On the contrary, the largest sects of most major religions—including Catholic, Baptist, African Methodist Episcopal, Lutheran, and more—endorse donation as an act of charity.

Myth: You can become an organ donor only when you get a driver’s license.

Sure, it’s convenient to sign up as a donor at the DMV, but that is not the only way to do it. The Health Resources and Services Administration makes it easy with a portal on its website that will take you to your state’s donor registry. There, you can sign up or update your registration details online.

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