Who can be an organ and/or tissue donor?
Everyone should consider himself or herself a potential organ and tissue donor. Your medical condition at the time of death will determine what organs and tissues can be donated. Organs are recovered from individuals who are “brain dead”, meaning their brain and brainstem have died. They have usually suffered a severe trauma or blow to the head, such as an aneurysm or a gunshot wound. The individual is in an intensive care unit at a hospital and every measure possible is made to save their life. A series of tests are performed by a neurospecialist to determine brain death. Brain death is death! Organs can only be recovered from individuals who are brain dead. Organ donors can also donate tissue. Individuals whose heart stops beating have died of a cardiac death. These individuals cannot donate organs for transplant. They are candidates for tissue donation. The only disease that completely eliminates you from being an organ or tissue donor is HIV or AIDS.
