How would you like to save someone’s life? You can and it is not difficult. You can become an organ and tissue donor. You as an individual organ and tissue donor can save the lives of eight people and enhance the lives of another fifty. That’s pretty incredible.
Over the years, I have had a number of people ask me about how to be a donor and make an anatomical gift after they are gone. But what is n anatomical gift? An anatomical gift is a gift of your organs, tissue or other body parts or your entire body for transplant, therapy, research or education.
There are a number of ways in which you can make an anatomical gift. Probably the simplest way to make an anatomical gift in Michigan is to get on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry. There are several ways to sign up on the registry. You can go online and register through the Michigan Secretary of State website at services.sos.state.mi.us/OrganDonor/Pages/Registry.aspx.
Another way to get on the registry online is when you renew or replace your driver’s license or state ID card at ExpressSOS.com. You will have a heart logo printed on your new license or ID card indicating your wishes.
You do not have to do it online. You can also get on the registry through the mail when you renew your Michigan ID card. All you have to do is check the organ donor box and your name will be placed on the donor registry.
Another way to get on the registry is by visiting a Secretary of State office and asking the clerk to add your name to the registry. You can do the same thing at the Secretary of State office when you renew your driver’s license or Michigan ID.
Michigan’s registry is like many registries across the country which are generally confidential 24/7/365 computerized databases that document your wish to be an organ, tissue and/or eye donor. In Michigan, the registry can only be accessed by Gift of Life Michigan to assist hospitals in the recovery and transplantation of organs and tissue.
An anatomical gift can also be made by will or other properly signed and witnessed document. If you are terminal, you can communicate your wishes to at least two adults, one of whom is unrelated and neither of whom is your attending physician.
To make sure that your anatomical gift donation would be followed, sometimes it is best to use a combination of methods. For example in my case, firstly, I have signed up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry at the Michigan Secretary of State office when I renewed my driver’s license and have the heart logo on my license. Secondly, I have signed a separate written anatomical gift document which I keep with my other estate planning documents. Thirdly, I have submitted that separate written anatomical gift document to Docubank, a private medical database service.
DocuBank not only holds my anatomical gift request, but also my durable power of attorney for health care, my living will, emergency contact information, medical conditions, allergy listing and physician information. You can also include all of you prescription information in this database.
DocuBank is a 24/7/365 secure confidential computerized database which holds your information and documents and is fully accessible from anywhere in the world. There is a nominal fee for annual registration for this service. DocuBank also gives you a sticker that you can place on your driver’s license or state ID and your health insurance cards indicating your wishes.
In your durable power of attorney for health care, you could give the power to make an anatomical gift to your health care agent/patient advocate. Your patient advocate would then have the authority to make an anatomical gift of all or part of your body.
You may have a concern that your life would end prematurely in the interest of “harvesting” your organs. This I one of the most common misconceptions I hear. By law, every effort has to be made to prolong your life in accordance with your wishes before an anatomical donation is considered. Also by law, the medical team that is treating you must be separate from the transplant team.
Generally, with the exception of lifetime gifts that you authorize, such as a kidney or bone marrow, body part recoveries can only be pursued after all life saving measures have been exhausted and you are officially declared dead. It also no longer is called “harvesting” of your organs or tissue, it is now called organ and tissue recovery.
It costs nothing to donate your organs or tissue and no costs associated with the donation should be passed on to your estate. Organ and tissue donations should not visually effect your remains and funeral viewings can be held the same as if you had not made a donation. Even in the case where you are donating your entire body, if certain procedures are followed, you may still be able to donate your entire body for study after the viewings and funeral service.
There are two organizations in Michigan that work hand in hand for organ and tissue donation and they are the Gift of Life and the Michigan Eye Bank. Both of these are nonprofit organizations that are dedicated to organ and tissue donation. They will act as an intermediary for you between the hospital staff and funeral home to assist your family in making sure that your wishes would be followed to the greatest extent possible.
There are no guarantees with anatomical gifts. Just because you direct that your body or parts be used for transplant, therapy, research or education, does not necessarily make it so. Your anatomical gifts must be examined and be acceptable to the medical school, anatomy department or organ transplant team.
Anatomy departments of medical and biology schools are usually in need of bodies and parts for study. Even if nothing is useable for transplant, your organs, eyes or even your entire body could be used for research and study. You should contact them and register with them directly to increase the likelihood that your body would be acceptable to them. After the research or study, your remains are typically cremated and are either returned to your family to be placed in the family burial plot or they are buried by the university in a cemetery plot reserved for their donors.
I have some clients that are adamant that they want to be buried with all of their body parts. That’s OK. Other clients say, ” I’m dead. I don’t need anything anymore. If somebody can use anything, use it”. I have had a number of clients in between who only want to give certain body parts. The great thing about America is you have choices, you can do whatever you want.
I have heard some people say, “I’m too old. There is nothing left of my body that is useable.” That may not necessarily be true. There is always a need for bodies and body parts. There are long waiting lists for people in need of transplants. Many times, even if your eyesight is poor, you may have a good transplantable cornea that could give somebody the gift of sight. You may have skin that may be used to aid a burn victim or bone that could be used for an accident victim. I am a recipient of donor gum tissue that was used to repair a gum condition.
It’s your body. Do what you choose. If you want to save a life, or many lives, give the gift of life by becoming an organ and tissue donor.
By: Matthew Wallace CPA, JD
Published edited June 15, 2014 in The Times Herald newspaper, Port Huron, Michigan as: Give the gift of life