FAQ on Organ/ Body/ Brain/ Eye Donation
March 11, 2013 20 Comments
This post provides basic information on organ/ body/ brain/ eye donation using an FAQ format, and includes links to sites with more information. It contains general information for the convenience of readers, and is NOT provided as expert/ authoritative advice, so please consult appropriate authorities as required. Decisions regarding donations are deeply personal, and this post does not attempt to advocate donations or enroll potential donors. I have no intention to persuade you about the merits or demerits of donation. Also, this post is written for the Indian context.
Why this page: After my mother died and I donated her brain, eyes and body, many folks contacted me with queries that indicated conceptual confusions about types of donations and about the practical aspects of donating. I looked around for several months for a website I could refer them to, but most sites focused only on some types of donations or were geared towards enrollments, and did not discuss practical issues/ procedures applicable in India. So I decided to create this post.
I try to keep this post updated but some highlights of common queries/ problems I encounter are also discussed in Voluntary body donation: some thoughts in response to queries I get.
- What is body donation?
- What is organ donation (and/ or organ transplantation)?
- What is tissue donation (including eye donation)?
- What is brain donation?
- Some people say organ donation can be done after death, some people say it is after brain death. Is brain death the same as death?
- I’ve heard the term “cadaver” in some articles on donation. How does that fit in with all this?
- How can I donate my organs for transplantation?
- I’ve heard we can enrol for donation. I want to enroll so that I can be sure that my body is donated.
- Well, once I die, I obviously cannot donate my own body. What is the procedure others have to follow after my death to donate my body?
- What’s this talk of natural and unnatural death? How does it affect body donation?
- Frankly, I am very confused about death certificates and the procedures around them. Some people talk of the doctor issuing a death certificate, but doesn’t the municipality issue it?
- So both certificates are needed–the one from the doctor showing the cause of death, and the one from the municipal authorities showing the registration of death. What is the registration/ death certificate issue procedure that the municipal authorities use?
- You seem to pay a lot of attention to this doctor’s certificate part. Can’t we just get it from the hospital where the person was registered as a body donor?
- We have a family doctor. Will he be able to help with the body donation process?
- If the death takes place in a hospital, they’ll handle all this donation business if we ask them, right?
- So if I want everything donated, in what order do I go about it?
- You mentioned that enrolment is not necessary for donation. Then what are the advantages of enrolling in donor programs?
- How do I enrol for donation/ get a donor card?
- I sometimes meet people who say they are donors. What does that mean?
- What sort of situations could lead to a donation not happening though a person had enrolled?
- Within how much time after death must the donation be done?
- All this sounds very intimidating. Does anyone ever manage to donate?
- I am keen to donate my body/ brain/ tissue/ organ but my family is not willing
- One objection some family members have related to religion. They say our religion does not allow such donation.
- Your page only discusses eye, brain, body and organ donations. What about things like bone donation, etc.?
- Hey, hold on! But can’t I make sure of organ donation through a living will? I have heard that we can have living wills now in India. (New question added; evolving area, impact of living wills unclear but here’s an intro)
- I want to know more about various types of body/ tissue/ organ donations. I want to read/ hear about persons who have actually made such donations
What is body donation?
Body donation is the donation of the whole body after death, for medical research and education. (See wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_donation)
Usually, this is done at a medical college (teaching hospital) and the body is used by medical students to study anatomy. It is also possible to donate a body/ some specific organs to specialized research institutes that may want to study a specific medical condition.
Body donation is different from organ donation.