What really happens after signing up to be an organ donor?

In the last decade, more than 9,000 patients in Michigan have received a life-saving organ transplant. Tens of thousands of additional patients have received life-changing tissue and eye transplants. Whether or not you’ve already got the heart symbol on your driver’s license, have you ever wondered how the organ donation process works? TV medical dramas often show the end of the process and, at times, not so accurate depiction of this life-saving decision. But what about everything that happens in between?

Read on to learn about the impact this selfless gift can have on a person and their family, what happens after you sign up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry and how someone qualifies as a donor.

After a liver transplant, ‘he’s a completely different kid now’

One of those patients who received a life-saving gift was Blake Hermann, who received a new liver earlier this year at age 2. After noticing he wasn’t progressing like his twin sister was, Blake was diagnosed with a rare liver disorder that soon caused liver failure. After maxing out all the medications available, Blake was added to the national organ transplant waiting list at the end of April.

As the months passed, Blake remained on the transplant waiting list as his health continued to worsen. Finally, in early August, he received his life-saving liver transplant, thanks to a generous deceased donor.

“He is a completely different kid now,” said his mother. “It happened almost immediately after his transplant. There’s no amount of words, or anything I can say that seem like enough. That is the ultimate gift that family gave us. They gave my baby another chance at life.”

Want to help a patient like Blake? Here’s what you can do.

Signing up to be an organ donor means you may be able to help patients like Blake someday. The most common way Michigan residents sign up to donate is when getting or renewing their driver’s license or state ID. Others sign up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry through Gift of Life Michigan at golm.org.

After signing up, share your decision with those closest to you. In Michigan, your decision is protected by the Uniform Anatomical Gift Law. Since 2008, this “first-person authorization” has meant that your decision cannot be changed by anyone. The one exception is for minors who pass away prior to turning 18; their parents or guardians ultimately make the decision and have the final say.

When a person is declared brain dead, the hospital contacts Gift of Life Michigan team members, who then speak with the patient’s family. If the person is a registered donor, Gift of Life honors that decision and moves forward with donation, while supporting the donor’s family. If the deceased is not on the Donor Registry, their next-of-kin is given the opportunity to decide on their behalf. The family is given time to think and ask questions before they decide.

Letting your family know your decision during your lifetime can help remove the burden during a time of crisis and loss.

What makes someone eligible to donate?

Most Americans are in favor of organ donation, but not everyone who joins the donor list is able to donate. Only 3 in 1,000 people die in a way that allows for organ donation.     

A person becomes a donor after being declared brain dead, or through a process known as donation after circulatory death. According to the American Academy of Neurology, “brain death, occurs in individuals who have sustained catastrophic brain injury, with no evidence of function of the brain as a whole, a state that must be permanent.” Brain death is legally and medically recognized as death.

Brain death typically happens after a major injury, illness or stroke where the blood supply to the brain is blocked, or the brain swells and cuts off its own blood supply. When a patient is brain dead, their body’s entire system stops. A ventilator keeps the patient’s body functioning.  

Brain death is determined by the patient’s medical team at the hospital, never by organ donation organizations. The patient’s medical team is not part of the donation or transplant process. The medical team must perform thorough testing to declare a patient brain dead. 

Another pathway is donation after circulatory death, which occurs when a patient has a permanent brain injury or disease that results in necessary life-sustaining medical treatment, or ventilated support. With these types of serious injuries, the brain is often too damaged to recover, and the patient will not survive without ventilator support. 

When the doctor determines the patient has no chance to survive, the family makes the decision to end life-sustaining measures. The machine support is removed and shortly after the heart stops, a doctor pronounces that the patient has died.  

Organ and tissue recovery doesn’t take place until after the person’s heart stops beating and they are declared dead by their doctor (as with brain death, organ donation groups aren’t involved).

Both situations are different than a coma, which is a medical emergency that takes place when someone is in a state of deep unconsciousness and cannot be woken up. The patient is still alive and there is brain activity, but they’re not responsive to people or their surroundings.  

Identifying when a patient is in a coma requires testing. A coma rarely lasts longer than several weeks. After that, the patient might move to what is called a persistent vegetative state or possibly brain death. While in a coma, a person cannot be an organ donor. 

While the death of Blake’s donor was a great loss for their family and community, their selfless act of organ donation became the ultimate gift for the Hermann family. The pain families feel when they lose a loved one is beyond measure and may only be helped by the knowledge that your loved one was able to save a life like Blake’s.

To join the 4.6 million Michigan residents who have made their decision to become an organ, eye and tissue donors known, visit golm.org/register. To learn the facts to make an informed decision, visit golm.org/faqs.