Organ Donation

We know that in most cases families will agree to donation if they knew that was their loved one’s wish. If the family, or those closest to the person who has died, object to the donation when the person who has died has given their explicit permission, either by telling relatives, close friends or clinical staff, or by carrying a donor card or registering their wishes on the NHS Organ Donor Register, healthcare professionals will discuss the matter sensitively with them. They will be encouraged to accept the dead person’s wishes and it will be made clear that they do not have the legal right to veto or overrule those wishes. There may, nevertheless, be cases where it would be inappropriate for donation to go ahead.

You can join the NHS Organ Donor Register but to fulfil your donation wishes, healthcare professionals will need to speak to someone else at the time of your death who can advise on your medical and social history. This may be your GP but it is advisable also to tell the person closest to you in life, a friend of long standing or a close colleague, about your decision.

Where the wishes of a person who has died are not known, the Human Tissue Acts rank people who had a relationship with them. This enables specialist healthcare professionals seeking permission for donation to know who they should approach and in what order. This ranges from a spouse or partner (including civil or same sex partner); parent or child; brother or sister and other relatives, to a friend of long standing.

No. By the time your will is read it is likely to be far too late for you to become a donor because organs and tissue need to be removed within 48 hours of death. This is why it is so important to let those closest to you know your wishes and to record them on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Yes. You can ring the Organ Donor Line on 0300 123 23 23 or go to our website www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register – and fill in the form asking for your name to be removed.

If you prefer, you can write to FREEPOST RRZK- SHUX-SBCK, NHSBT, Fox Den Road, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, BS34 8RR.

If you have an organ donor card, tear it up. Let your family know that you have changed your mind.

While it is possible to retrieve sperm or eggs it is illegal to store either or to create an embryo without the prior, written consent of the donor.