Is it true that the family of the deceased donor has to pay for the medical procedures neccesary to harvest the organ?

I do not beleive so, but I could be wrong.

I will talk with our tissue coordinator and get back to you with the difinitive answer.

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*** The opinions expressed herein are uniquely MY OWN and should not be construed as an endorsement of any sort by my employers or of any professional associations to which I hold membership. I can dig myself into holes just fine without their help, thank you very much***

No, a donor's family does not pay any medical costs associated with donation of organs.

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~do one thing every day that scares you~

Anita, are you sure? I would be glad to let someone use my parts and would list it on my driver's license, but somewhere along the line I had heard that there would be an expense to your next of kin. I wouldn't want to burden my loved ones with any additional expense. On the side of donating, I have read that there are 4 or 5 thousand people on the list for liver transplants and that they only harvested 492 last year.

It is correct that you the donor or your family or insurance company bears no expense for donation of your organ or tissues. The money the companies make off of organ donations is HUGE and if they charged the donors they would never get the donations they get.

Speaking of that, did you read about the New York Funeral Director and former dentist who were in cahoots to harvest organ and tissues from corpses without authorization? They would falsify death certificates and organ donation forms to take what they wanted. In some cases people got organs or tissues from people who died of infectious diseases.

Thousands of bodies were violated and they made millions.

On that note, the State of Wisconsin has a HIGHLY regulated organ and tissue donation network that would not allow this to happen. I think Wisconsin has one of the highest rates of donations too. We are so giving!

Thank you both, Anita and MJC135, for your replys. I too, have a failed liver and do not fall into any of the risk groups. The doctors say my test results are "unremarkable" in that they don't know why. I was told by the liver specialist in Marshfield that when your liver fails your spleen wants to take over. As a result, mine is five times enlarged. It is a very dangerous situation as when your spleen ruptures you bleed to death before arriving at the hospitol. I also learned on the web that your liver is one of the only organs that will regenerate. So supposedly you don't need a liver transplant but rather a donor to give up half of theirs and they would grow back their other half. The recipient would have his entirly removed and the half received would grow the other half. I have been offered that half by one of my children, but I would not have any part of that. I got a good sense of humor about life and lived a very full one. Anyone that knows me might say instead of a good sense of humor I have a sick sense of humor. I feel it is a sick world and I'm a happy guy! I did read of that ex-dentist that falsified death certificates for profit. It is a sick world. Thanks to your assurance of not burdening my family with any added expense I am ready to put that sticker on my driver's license as a donor.

Hi Catfish,

Yes, I'm sure. The myth that a donor's family bears any expense in a donation is, unfortunately, what keeps many from becoming potential donors. For more info, you can go to either of these websites:
http://www.wisdonornetwork.org/why/faq.html
http://www.livingbank.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Questions_and_Answers

Good luck to you.

Anita

<small>[ March 09, 2006, 05:42 AM: Message edited by: Anita ]</small>

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~do one thing every day that scares you~

Dang.. you guys beat me to the information. Oh well. I can tell you that I spoke to our tissue coordinator here at Sacred Heart and it was confirmed that any type of tissue donation is free of charge to the donor's family.

I am pleased too that Wisconsin rates high on the list for donation.

Oh, and as a paramedic, I have no clue if you are an organ donor or not. I will not "let you die" as the myth seems to propogate, just to get at your organs. In fact, I will do everything to keep you alive if I can as many organs such as the heart, liver, etc., must be working in order for them to be taken for transplant. Not that I would shirk keeping you alive for anything else, but you get my point.

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*** The opinions expressed herein are uniquely MY OWN and should not be construed as an endorsement of any sort by my employers or of any professional associations to which I hold membership. I can dig myself into holes just fine without their help, thank you very much***