The Bequest of Life: Organ and Tissue Donation as Part of a Thorough Estate Plan

• Publication year: 1996
• Pages: 39
• Citation: Vol. 25 No. 4 Pg. 39

25 Colo.Law. 39 Colorado Lawyer 1996.

1996, April, Pg. 39. The Bequest of Life: Organ and Tissue Donation as Part of a Thorough Estate Plan

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Vol. 25, No. 4, Pg. 39

The Bequest of Life: Organ and Tissue Donation as Part of a Thorough Estate Plan

by Mark D. Masters

Thanks to today's medical techniques, a transplanted kidney can save a person from years of dependence on a machine. A heart can give life to someone who is counting the days in pain. Transplanted eyes and corneas can restore sight to the blind. Whole joints can renew movement in crippled limbs. Transplanted skin can save a burn victim. Bones, marrow, ligaments, tendons, livers intestines, lungs, blood vessels and more can all be transplanted

Today it is possible to transplant up to twenty-five different organs and tissues. Even the elderly can be donors.

However, the demand for organs and tissue greatly exceeds the supply. About 44,000 people in the United States are currently on a waiting list for organ or tissue donation---enough almost to fill Coors Field.(fn1) The number of people on a waiting list for organ donation alone increased 108 percent from 1988 to 1993. Because of a lack of donors, several people die in the United States each day waiting for transplants.

This article briefly examines some of the myths surrounding donation of organs and tissue. It is the author's thesis that good estate planning should include declarations regarding anatomical gifts, if not for altruistic reasons, then to spare family members of the client the anguish of a heart-wrenching decision at a very emotional time----just prior to the decedent's death. The article closes by suggesting how Colorado attorneys engaged in estate planning for their clients can help close the tragic gap between the supply of organs and tissue available for donation and the demand for those organs and tissues.

The Dearth of Anatomical Gifts

A number of studies have been conducted on the general public's attitudes and beliefs regarding organ and tissue donation. For example, a majority of the public do not know that a nationwide organ and tissue clearinghouse and allocation system has been established.(fn2) According to a 1992 study by the National Kidney Foundation and the United Network for Organ Sharing,(fn3) several reasons for not donating organs and tissue are:

Mistrust of the medical community and a belief that the allocation system is unfair. In fact, organ and tissue recipients are determined by urgency of need, tissue and blood type. Priority is given to suitably matched recipients of geographic proximity.

Ignorance of what constitutes death and of the donation process. In fact, there is no cost to the donor family or the decedent's estate.

As reported in The Wall Street Journal,(fn4) other reasons the public is hesitant to make anatomical gifts include

A belief that the patient might not receive aggressive medical care. In fact, there are strict legal guidelines that must be followed before death can be certified and organs or tissue removed. Under Colorado's Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, CRS § 12-34-101 et seq., the physician attending the patient and certifying death cannot participate in the surgical team...