How to Register to Be an Organ Donor

Giving the gift of life is easier than you think, a Keck Medicine of USC transplant coordinator explains.

The desire to leave a lasting legacy is universal. Fortunately, each of us can leave a legacy that will last a lifetime simply by registering to be an organ, tissue or eye donor.  

Here are six important facts about how to designate yourself as an organ donor that Ernie Villalon, BSN, RN, CCTC, CPTC, a transplant coordinator with the USC Transplant Institute, part of Keck Medicine of USC, wants you to know. 

Registering as an organ donor is easy. 

The route most people take to organ and tissue donation runs right through the DMV. Whether you’re renewing or applying for a driver’s license or a state ID, when you check that box on the application indicating that you want to be a donor, you’ve “officially” added your name to the registry of organ, tissue and eye donors, Villalon says. Congratulations! 

An alternative path, he continues, involves filling out the online form provided by Donate Life California, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about organ and tissue donation and maintains the state record of donor registrations. 

And while some people specify their wish to donate in an advance directive — a legal document that lets individuals choose their preferred end-of-life or emergency care — unless health care teams can access that document in an emergency, your desire to donate may go unvoiced. And for that reason, Villalon says, “The DMV or California state donor registry is the essential repository that’s more reliable.” 

Anyone can register to be an organ donor. 

Registering as an organ donor or tissue donor is “an all-inclusive thing,” Villalon says: Regardless of age or health status, it’s open to you. 

Individuals must be 13 or older to register online. Anyone under age 18 requires a legal guardian’s consent to add their name to the roster. But there’s no age cap on donating, and even people in their 90s have donated organs and tissues, according to Donate Life California. 

That said, “The reality is that nearly all people who have registered as donors probably won’t get to that point,” Villalon notes. 

The reasons vary and often boil down to the balance between which organs and tissues are needed and which are available in suitable condition for donation. But in the end, Villalon says, “What makes a good organ donor is just signing up! That’s the most important thing.” 

How to remove organ donor status 

When you register as an organ and tissue donor, you establish what’s called “first-person authorization.” And Villalon says, “This choice is irrevocable unless you revoke or change it yourself.” 

You can do so at any time by updating your profile at Donate Life California, which allows you not only to stipulate which organs and tissues you’re comfortable donating, but to remove yourself from the registry entirely should you change your mind. 

And crucially, Villalon says, as long as you’re 18 or older, no one else can make these decisions except you — not even your family. “If that registered donor is, in fact, a suitable medical candidate for donation,” he says, “it will happen.” 

“So, the big takeaway,” Villalon continues, “is that if you have any wish to donate organs or tissues, you need to let your family or whoever will be in charge of medical decision-making on your behalf know ahead of time.” 

Donating an organ doesn’t compromise any medical care you receive. 

A frequent concern among prospective donors is the possibility that designating yourself as such might compromise medical care in an emergency. But Villalon stresses that the opposite is true. 

“Even if the paramedics see that you’re a donor,” he insists, “you’ll get the same standard of care no matter what. And medical professionals in the ER won’t look at your license to see if you’re a donor or not; they’ll see you as a patient whose life they need to save.” 

In fact, when a patient becomes a donor, the hospital keeps them on life support and follows what are known as catastrophic brain-injury guidelines to manage and optimize the state of the organs and tissues for donation. 

“It’s a whole protocol of treatments to improve heartbeat, blood pressure and oxygenation,” Villalon explains. “These medical professionals actually do a little bit more.” 

Donation is compatible with a full funeral. 

Funerals and burial services are important end-of-life rituals across cultures, and the possibility that organ or tissue donation might delay or otherwise interfere with them can deter some from considering donation. Villalon says they needn’t worry. 

“Organ-procurement organizations have family-care specialists to discuss funeral plans with the donor’s survivors,” he says. “Will there be an open casket? What will your family member wear? How soon is the service?” 

And surgeons practice discretion in their work, placing incisions where clothing will hide them, retrieving skin donations from the back and replacing limbs removed for, say, a bone donation with prosthetics “to help maintain the limb’s natural form,” Villalon assures. 

Donation is confidential — unless you choose to communicate. 

Organ and tissue donation is a sensitive matter — which explains why it remains strictly confidential, just as patient health information is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Villalon says. 

So shortly after donation, the donor’s family and the recipient will receive general anonymized information about each other — for example, “Donor is a male in his 20s from California.” But if parties on either the donor or recipient side feel compelled to learn more or even reach out, they have avenues for doing so. Organ-procurement organizations and transplant centers alike can arrange contact, which starts with writing a letter. They then forward that letter to the intended recipient, and if that recipient wants to respond, they can send their own letter in turn. 

And if the parties want to progress to an actual meeting? Organ-procurement organizations can facilitate those as well, Villalon says. “They act as chaperons, basically, because it’s a very emotional experience. You can imagine what it’s like.”

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