Ending Life Well: Conversations & Connections
By McKenna Reinhard , End of Life Specialist A Healthy Vision for Your End of Life Plan
It can be hard to have a clear vision for what you want for your end-of-life plan with all the available options. The PCOA End of Life Team often hears from people who are interested in including organ or body donation as part of this plan but are unclear on the specifics or how this would work into their existing end-of-life plan. In honor of Healthy Vision Month, we want to address some of the common questions that we get around these topics to help you more clearly see the options that are available. One of the most common questions that comes up is regarding what organs and tissues can be donated. Organs that can be donated include lungs, liver, intestines, heart, kidneys, and pancreas; tissues that can be donated include corneas, skin, heart valves, bone, veins, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments. In your advance directive you can specify what, if any, organs and tissues you would like to donate. You can also specify if you would like to donate for transplantation, research, or any authorized purpose. If you allow your donation to be used for any authorized purpose, priority will be given to transplantation into a living recipient, if possible. The next question we often get is about registering for organ and tissue
donation. If you have signed up to be an organ donor through the DMV, that puts you on the DonateLifeAZ registry in addition to adding the sticker on your license. It is a good idea to also put this desire in your advance directive to be sure that there is no confusion over your wish to be an organ/tissue donor. This also gives you space to discuss what organs/ tissues you want to donate and for what purposes. If you don’t want to be an organ/tissue donor, it is going to be very important to make this clear in your advance directives so your loved ones know and can communicate this; if those questions are left blank, they may be unsure if you wanted to be a donor or not. The final common question that comes up around this topic is around whole
body donation. Providing generalized information around this is hard, as things vary from organization to organization. However, in general, if you want to do whole body donation you cannot do organ/tissue donation (except cornea donation, in some cases). Additionally, with organ/tissue donation, if you did not register before your death, your family can agree to donation on your behalf. Many organizations that do whole body donation require that you pre-register yourself before death and will not allow a family member to register for you. For more information or individualized assistance with advance directives, call the PCOA Helpline at (520) 790-7262 and they will get you connected with one of our End of Life Specialists.
Page 20 | July 2023, Never Too Late
Pima Council on Aging
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