Don't Get Spooked by Donation

Organ, eye, and tissue donation is a life-saving gift. But some people get a little spooked by the idea. This Halloween season, we want to help you see donation isn’t scary by sorting the ghost stories from the true stories.

Ghost Story: Doctors won’t save patients if they’re donors

A lot of people think the hospital staff or paramedics will let them die just to take their organs. They think healthcare workers are taking a peek at a patient’s license to see if they’re a donor before trying to save you. This tall tale is wrong for a few reasons.

• Checking Registry Status: To find out if someone is a registered donor, we aren’t looking at a driver’s license. The organ procurement organization (OPO) staff checks the NC Donor Registry, a secure database. Hospital staff and paramedics don’t have access to this program.
• Different Roles: The healthcare workers involved in saving your life are not involved in the organ, eye, and tissue donation process. The doctor trying to find a kidney for their sick patient is not treating patients in the emergency room. Donation is a specialized area of medicine, and only our trained staff are involved in the donation process.
• Do No Harm: People in healthcare usually choose this field because they want to help people and save lives. Doctors have sworn an oath to “do no harm.” Letting someone die to take their organs is not only unethical; it goes against that oath and why they became doctors in the first place: to save lives.

We can understand why so many people fall for this myth! Unfortunately, a lot of medical TV shows include this dramatized version of donation as a storyline. It’s also a common fear in minority communities due to historical mistrust in the medical system. Wherever you’ve heard it, we’re pleased to help you understand why it's wrong.

Stephanie, Organ & Tissue Donor

True Story: Donation can help in the grief process

Many family members find their loved ones’ donation helps as they work through their grief. They find comfort knowing their loved one is the reason a lung recipient can breathe again, a cornea recipient can see their daughter graduate, or a tendon recipient can run and play with their grandkids. Cindy Thomasson, whose daughter was an organ and tissue donor, said “Stephanie's organ donation has helped me with my grief process by just knowing that she changed someone's life. It's, I guess, like a silver lining, you know, if we had to go through it anyway, then, I know other people are benefiting from it.”

Ghost Story: Donors can’t have an open-casket funeral

Before the recovery surgery begins, a member of our team will speak with the family to learn about funeral plans. For example, if the family is planning an open-casket funeral and their loved one will be wearing short sleeves, we will not recover any tissue from the arms. Every effort will be made to preserve the appearance of the donor.

Donors are treated with the utmost respect in the operating room. Before the recovery surgery begins, there is a “moment of honor” where a LifeShare teammate reads a message recognizing the donor’s life and the gift they are giving to save others. After recovery is complete, the donor is stitched up, just like any living patient having surgery.

True Story: Donation is a treat, not a trick

Donation is an incredible act of generosity. One organ donor can save up to 8 lives. A tissue and eye donor can impact 75 or more, sometimes even hundreds of people. Here at LifeShare Carolinas, we are honored to help everyday people become heroes through donation.

We’re also proud to support the donor’s family with care and compassion through some of the hardest times of their lives. After their loss, our Bridge to Healing program offers grief counseling and opportunities to honor their loved ones through tributes and special events like our Donor Remembrance Celebration.

This Halloween, don’t dress like a hero, become a hero. Sign up as an organ, eye, and tissue donor at LifeShareCarolinas.org/Register and you may one day give another kid the chance to dress up for Halloween.