Organ Donation in Georgia

Organ Donation in Georgia

Organ donation registration in Georgia is administered byDonate Life Georgia.

There are more than 3,000 people in Georgia are waiting for organ transplants and 103,000 people on organ transplant lists in the United States. Millions of people in the state have signed up to become organ donors.

There is never a cost to sign up for the organ donor registry, nor to your estate if you become an organ donor. All costs associated with organ donation are paid for by Donate Life Georgia.

Register as an Organ Donor in GA

Anyone can sign up to become an organ donor in Georgia. If you're less than 17 years old, you will need to get permission from your parents to sign up. There is no upper age limit for organ or tissue donation; your suitability as a donor will be more dependent on social history and your general state of health.

Online

You can register to become an organ donor online:

  • Through ORGANIZE.org, which will add you registration to a national database.
  • At the Georgia Donate Life website. When you register with Georgia's organ donor registry online, you will need to provide your driver's license or state ID number.

Another resource for information and registering in Georgia is the LifeLink of Georgia Foundation.

In Person

You can register to become an organ donor when you apply for or renew your Georgia driver's license. The Department of Driver Services' Customer Service Center will provide you with the Uniform Donor Card for you to complete. Be sure to speak with your family about your decision, whether you choose to donate or not.

Those who registered at the driver license office are also encouraged by Donate Life Georgia to check the registry online to ensure that their registration is documented.

Update Your Organ Donation Information

You can update your organ donor profile online at the Donate Life Georgia website.

If you registered at the Georgia Department of Driver Services, you can sign in using your driver's license number. It can generally take a few weeks for your donor registration record to become available for updating online.

How You Can Help With Organ Donation

There are a number of ways that Georgia residents can help with organ donation efforts before death.

  • Donate Life Georgia seeks volunteers who can staff information tables and give presentations about organ donation. By becoming a volunteer, you will be trained to provide organ donation facts and dispel the myths and misconceptions about organ donation. You can also schedule speakers to make a presentation to your church, class, business, or community group.
  • Monetary donations support the educational and awareness efforts of Donate Life Georgia. You can contribute online using a credit card or mail a check to:
    • Donate Life Georgia
    • P.O. Box 420661
    • Atlanta, GA 30342
  • Living organ donors give the gift of lifesaving transplants during their lifetimes. Lobes of organs can be used for liver transplants and lung transplants. You can also donate a single organ for kidney transplants. While most living donors give organs to family members, there are also many people who opt for altruistic donation to strangers.

Deciding to Donate

Many people fear organ donation, but every attempt will be made to save your life before your donor status is even revealed. By Georgia law, a different team of doctors will remove your organs only after you have been declared medically and legally dead.

After brain death, physicians will assess whether you are a good candidate for organ donation. The hospital contacts Donate Life Georgia to see if you are listed on the registry. If no record of registration can be found, they will consult your next of kin to find out about organ donation - this is why it's terribly important to inform your friends and family of your donation intentions, so as to spare them from making this difficult decision themselves. Your family cannot rescind your wishes if you have opted to become a donor.

Hospitals are required to contact organ donation centers when a donor becomes available, according to state law.

Organ Donation Facts

  • More than 103,000 people in America need an organ donation of some type.
  • Donations at death include heart, intestines, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, eyes, tissue, skin, bones, heart valves, tendons, cells, and cartilage.
  • Donation does not disfigure your body, so an open casket funeral is still an option.

For more information, you can visit our page about Organ Donation Facts.

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