The Donation Process

Organ recovery isn’t a decision that’s taken lightly. There are highly regulated procedures and strict criteria that must be met before an organ is recovered from a donor.

Donation Timeline:

• Hospitals must call the local organ procurement organization (OPO) with information on every patient who dies. The professionals evaluate each patient to see if a medical donation can occur and determine if the patient was a donor by checking a donor registry or other documents.
• The OPO professionals provide support for the donor’s family and explain the donation process.
• If donation can occur for transplantation, the donor’s information is submitted to UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) to be matched with potential recipients.
• Transplant surgeons and professionals perform the organ recoveries, followed by eye and tissue recovery specialists.
• The sickest patients who match the donor receive a life-saving transplant, while tissue and eye banks receive donated gifts to prepare for requests by surgeons.
• The OPO continues to provide sensitive and caring support for grieving families after the recovery.

Eye and tissue donation is an incredible gift that heals many people in the United States each year. From heart valves that repair congenital heart defects to ligaments that restore mobility and corneas that give the gift of sight, tissue and eye donation offers hope and healing for many.

Tissue and eye recovery teams perform the recovery and send the donated tissue to one of our partners who prepare the tissue for the lifesaving or life-healing transplantation.