Facts about organ donation

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• The nation's organ-donation and transplant programs are coordinated by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a private, nonprofit organization that contracts with the federal government. UNOS maintains the national waiting list for transplant patients, works to promote organ donation and helps create organ-sharing policies. Living donors can designate a specific recipient if the donor and recipient are a medical match.

How the system works

• When an organ is donated, the local procurement center enters medical information about the organ into the national database to see which patients it may match on the waiting list.

• Potential recipients are ranked by such criteria as blood type, tissue type, size of organ needed, urgency for a transplant, waiting time, and distance between the donor and recipient.

• The local organ-procurement center then offers the organ to the transplant center caring for the highest-ranked patient who meets the criteria. If the organ is refused, it's offered for the next patient on the list. The process continues until a match is made.

Enterprising alternatives?

MatchingDonors.com solicits living donors for people who need a transplant. About 100 people have registered as either a potential donor or a would-be recipient.

What supporters say: The site helps potential recipients, who pay a fee, find an organ more quickly and encourages people to become donors. By facilitating donor-recipient matches, more people get off the transplant waiting list, reducing the wait for others.

What critics say: The service takes advantage of desperate people, opens the door to payment for organs, and skews the system so that wealthy people are more likely to get transplants.

LifeSharers is a free club whose members carry a card saying that in event of their death, they'll donate their organs to other club members, unless there is no match. In return, they'll be first in line for an organ from the club, should they ever need one. About 2,100 people have joined.
 
What supporters say: It's only fair that people who agree to become potential organ donors should get first crack at an organ. That sense of fair play will encourage more people to become organ donors.

What critics say: LifeSharers won't ever attract enough members to work. Worse, it sets up a separate class of potential donors and recipients outside the official system.

Becoming an organ donor

• Register at LifeCenter Northwest, the Seattle area's organ-procurement agency, at www.livinglegacyregistry.org.

• Tell the Department of Motor Vehicles to designate you as an organ donor on your driver's license.

• Talk with your family about your desire to donate upon your death.

On the Web

MatchingDonors.com: www.matchingdonors.com

LifeSharers: www.lifesharers.com

United Network for Organ Sharing: www.unos.org

LifeCenter Northwest: www.lcnw.org

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company