How Organ Donation Works
It begins with a choice
The organ donation process begins with a simple choice: your commitment to help others in need of life saving transplants and sharing that decision with your family and friends.
how organ donation/transplantation works
Organ donation and transplantation start with donor registration or family authorization. Physicians assess and list patients for transplant. If a suitable donor is found—often after brain death—organs are evaluated, recovered, preserved and transported to recipients. Surgeries follow for matched recipients, with ongoing support for families and recipients post-transplant. This process provides life saving opportunities to those in need.
The hospital reaches out to one of the Pennsylvania-based organ procurement organizations (OPOs) when there is a potential donor—someone who has passed away due to a brain injury and has been on a ventilator to ensure blood flow to the organs.
The potential donor is evaluated to determine if organ donation is an option, and the state and national registries are searched to see if the potential donor is registered.
The donor’s family is informed of the donor’s decision or given the opportunity to donate on the donor’s behalf, and the OPO supports donor families through their grief, helping to honor the legacy of their loved ones.
A match list is generated using the national transplant waiting list to find matching patients. The transplant centers of the matching recipients are then contacted to offer the donated organs.
The recovery, preservation and transport of organs to recipient transplant hospitals are coordinated and overseen by the OPOs.
Follow-up letters are sent to the donor family, hospital staff, physicians and nurses detailing the recovered organs and tissues. About 14 days after donation, the donor’s family receives a letter describing the impact their loved one’s donation had on transplant recipients.