People who apply for a driver’s license next year will be asked if they want to become organ donors in the event of their death
By: Christen McCurdy | The Lund Report
Starting in 2012, applicants for driver's licenses will be required to designate whether they would like to be organ donors in the event of their death.
The new requirement, known as Senate Bill 479, was the result of a grass-roots effort by Elinor Gollay, and her husband, Rex Brasell, who developed advanced kidney disease last spring.
Wait times for an organ donation can vary widely depending on what organ is needed and where in the country the patient lives. In Oregon, the wait for a new kidney is up to two years.
Gollay said she was fortunate to be able to give her husband a kidney, but the experience led to a discussion with her state senator, Suzanne Bonamici (D-Beaverton) about how to improve the organ donation system in Oregon.
After brainstorming several ideas, Bonamici introduced the bill which requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to ask everyone who applies for a driver's license to designate themselves as organ donors.
“In theory, they do it now, but not a lot of people end up being asked,” Gollay said.
According to Mary Jane Hunt, the executive director of Donate Life Northwest, a nonprofit that promotes organ donation, of the 2.1 million people who have a donor designation on their driver's license, only 34 percent choose the same designation again when they apply to donate their organs, which led organ donation advocates to believe this question was not being asked of everyone.
“The DMV has been one of our best community partners for promoting organ donation since 1975, when the legislature first allowed the 'D' code on driver's licenses,” Hunt said.
Donate Life Northwest was not involved in the drafting of the bill, but did testify in support when it came before the Senate.
Everyone who chooses a 'D' code on their license, or carries an organ donor card, or enters his or her name into the state's online database, becomes part of the state's donor registry. When someone dies, for instance, in a hospital, procurement agencies are notified of the person's death and can check whether he or she was in the registry. Families have to provide written consent to donate the organs of someone who’s not in the registry, but cannot override the wishes of a loved one who wanted to donate organs.
Noting that one cadaver can save up to eight lives, Gollay said that even if the new law only results in a slight uptick in organ donations, the effect could be enormous.
“Twenty cadavers could save 100 lives,” she said. “That'd be fabulous.”
For More Information
To add your name to the online donor registry, visit https://www.donatelifenw.org/register/.
The new requirement, known as Senate Bill 479, was the result of a grass-roots effort by Elinor Gollay, and her husband, Rex Brasell, who developed advanced kidney disease last spring.
Wait times for an organ donation can vary widely depending on what organ is needed and where in the country the patient lives. In Oregon, the wait for a new kidney is up to two years.
Gollay said she was fortunate to be able to give her husband a kidney, but the experience led to a discussion with her state senator, Suzanne Bonamici (D-Beaverton) about how to improve the organ donation system in Oregon.
After brainstorming several ideas, Bonamici introduced the bill which requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to ask everyone who applies for a driver's license to designate themselves as organ donors.
“In theory, they do it now, but not a lot of people end up being asked,” Gollay said.
According to Mary Jane Hunt, the executive director of Donate Life Northwest, a nonprofit that promotes organ donation, of the 2.1 million people who have a donor designation on their driver's license, only 34 percent choose the same designation again when they apply to donate their organs, which led organ donation advocates to believe this question was not being asked of everyone.
“The DMV has been one of our best community partners for promoting organ donation since 1975, when the legislature first allowed the 'D' code on driver's licenses,” Hunt said.
Donate Life Northwest was not involved in the drafting of the bill, but did testify in support when it came before the Senate.
Everyone who chooses a 'D' code on their license, or carries an organ donor card, or enters his or her name into the state's online database, becomes part of the state's donor registry. When someone dies, for instance, in a hospital, procurement agencies are notified of the person's death and can check whether he or she was in the registry. Families have to provide written consent to donate the organs of someone who’s not in the registry, but cannot override the wishes of a loved one who wanted to donate organs.
Noting that one cadaver can save up to eight lives, Gollay said that even if the new law only results in a slight uptick in organ donations, the effect could be enormous.
“Twenty cadavers could save 100 lives,” she said. “That'd be fabulous.”
For More Information
To add your name to the online donor registry, visit https://www.donatelifenw.org/register/.
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