Donation Essentials Blog
Will Doctors Still Save my Life if I’m a Registered Organ Donor?
Doctors will do EVERYTHING in their power to save your life, even if you’re a registered organ donor. Here’s why:
Many people wonder: will doctors save my life if I’m a registered organ donor? Medical professionals prioritize saving lives when sick or injured people arrive at the hospital. They do not consider organ and tissue donation until after declaring death.
Another instance is when a family decides to remove their loved one from ventilated support. Furthermore, doctors and nurses who provide care before death do not participate in the recovery or transplantation of donated corneas, organs, or tissues.
The Hippocratic Oath highlights medical professionals’ commitment to saving lives.
First and foremost, it’s crucial to understand that all medical practitioners have taken an oath to do no harm and to provide the best possible care to their patients, irrespective of their organ donor status. This is known as the Hippocratic Oath and is taken extremely seriously within the medical community.
Hospital professionals, bound by the Hippocratic Oath, are committed to doing everything in their power to save lives. Hospital professionals commit to “remember that [they] remain a member of society, with special obligations to all [their] fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm … May [they] always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may [they] long experience the joy of healing those who seek [their] help.”
This means that whether or not you’re a registered organ donor, your doctor will always prioritize your life and health first. They’ll put in maximal effort to save or prolong your life, using all the resources and treatments at their disposal. 
The decision to donate organs comes into play only when all life-saving measures have been exhausted and the patient has been officially declared deceased. Being a registered organ donor, therefore, does not affect the quality or urgency of the life-saving procedures you’ll receive if you’re in a critical condition.
Typically, medical professionals are unaware of a person’s registered donor status.
ER doctors, EMTs, and firefighters seldom possess knowledge of your registration status. Even if they possessed it, this knowledge would provide little benefit to them. They lack control over the donation process after a person’s death is declared.
Only after a person has been pronounced dead, and the possibility of organ donation arises, does the matter come under a completely different team – the organ procurement organization (OPO). This team has a responsibility to honor the wishes of donors. They handle the medical evaluations, family discussions, and organ recovery procedures, while at all making sure no undue influence is exerted due to the donor status on the efforts made to save the person’s life.
Furthermore, they are unaware of the recipients of organs or tissues. Lastly, they operate in a distinct department/organization from donation and transplantation professionals. During emergencies, they do not check your ID, nor do they have immediate access to registration status since it is confidential information. Their primary concern, as always, is to save your life.
Brain Death is the most common way a person can qualify to be an organ donor.
The myth contains irony as brain death can only be declared after exhausting all possible measures to sustain life. The Uniform Determination of Death Act defines brain death as the irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem. A brain-dead person is deceased, although their cardiopulmonary functioning may be artificially maintained.
The final declaration necessitates a controlled and extensive clinical exam due to the neurological nature of brain death. Brain death is final and finite; it is not in the same thing as a coma or persistent vegetative state.
Brain death determination occurs rarely, only in about 1 out of every 100 hospital deaths. Thus, organ donation can be considered a miracle when it becomes possible. Registering as a donor does not guarantee becoming a donor.
Doctors would not be aware of a person being in this state until after addressing their other injuries. Allowing patients to die before artificially sustaining cardiopulmonary function and addressing other injuries would render them ineligible for donation, making this myth completely implausible.
So, will doctor’s save your life if you are a registered organ donor?
Now you know the facts about donation. Understand that medical professionals will do EVERYTHING in their power to save your life, regardless of your organ donor status.
Register your decision online today!
