STATS AND FACTS

Facts about Organ and Tissue donation

• Across the country, more than 98,000 people are waiting for organ transplants. In California, more than 20,000 people wait for a life-saving organ transplant.
• Each year in the United States, approximately 15,000 people die under conditions that make them medically suitable potential organ donors. In 2007, only 8,087 of those who died in the United States became organ donors.
• The waiting list for organ transplants is growing at the rate of 1,000 per month.
• In the GSDS area, about 1000 people are on the waiting list for an organ transplant. Yet annually, the GSDS area has an average of only 60-80 people who become donors upon their death.
• The refusal rate among families of potential donors nationwide is around 50 percent. However, a recent Gallup poll found 93% of respondents willing to donate a deceased family member's organs if he or she had expressed this wish prior to death. It is important to sighn up on the Donate Life California Registry. Either through the DMV when you apply or renew your drivers license or online at: www.DonateLifeCalifornia.org
• Transplantation is no longer considered experimental. It is a desired treatment for thousands with end-stage organ disease. Each year, approximately 900,000 Americans receive tissue transplants and nearly 28,000 receive organ transplants.
• In recent years, medical breakthroughs have greatly improved the success rate for transplantation- it now generally runs in excess of 80% for transplants overall.
• Under ideal conditions, one donor can supply as many as 8 organs (heart, 2 lungs, liver, pancreas, 2 kidneys, and intestine). At today's average recovery rate, the current pool of potential donors could meet the needs of up to 50,000 people per year.
• From 6/2003 to 6/2004, there were 775 deceased donors in California.
• There is an urgent need for minority organ donation. Right now, more than 50% of the 98,000 people on the national waiting list are minorities (African American, Hispanic, Asian and other non-Caucasians). This is because minorities suffer from hypertension, kidney and heart disease (causing organ failure) at higher rates than the Caucasian population. Organ donation is crucial among all ethnicities and cultures because matching genetic similarities help the success of transplantation.
• A 1986 federal law requires that family members be approached about organ and tissue donation at the time of a medically suitable loved one’s death.
• A 1997 federal regulation requires hospitals to notify their contracted organ-procurement organization (OPO) of all patients whose death is imminent or who has died in the hospital. It also requires that the person initiating the request for organ/tissue donation must be employed by the contracted OPO or trained by the contracted OPO.
• Tissue donation can give the gift of sight, save burn victims from disfigurement, provide relief from amputation, and grant other life-enhancing assistance.

And to dispel some myths and misconceptions:

• Organs are allocated based on the urgency of medical need, not according to a patient's financial, political, social or celebrity status. The length of time it takes to receive a transplant is based solely on medical criteria like blood type, height and weight, and time spent waiting. The most important factor that affects length of time waiting is a lack of organ donors. 
• Only increased medical need can “move” someone higher on the national waiting list for organs. Rich and famous people have to wait like everyone else.
• Donation is consistent with the life-preserving traditions of all major religions in the United States.
• Donation is not discussed until all efforts to save a life have failed. If someone is sick, injured and/or admitted to a hospital, the first priority is to save that person’s life. If all possible efforts to save a patient’s life have failed, and two physicians have tested the patient and certified that death has occurred, a family is then asked about giving the gift of life through organ and tissue donation.
• Donor families incur no expense for donation. 
• Donation is a sterile surgical procedure. One can be a donor and have an open casket funeral.
• Organs and tissues can be donated by people of all ages. The general age limit is 80.
• People with a history of medical illness still can be donors. At the time of death, medical professionals evaluate a potential donor’s medical and social history to determine suitability for donation. Constant advances in transplantation mean many more people can be donors than ever before.

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