ESTATE PLANNING: BECOMING A TEXAS ORGAN AND TISSUE DONOR

If you’ve ever known someone waiting to receive an organ, you know how stressful the process can be. Most of those requesting help are either fighting to save their lives or to greatly improve their health. Fortunately, there’s a national transplant waiting list that’s been set up to match donors and recipients in Texas and all other states.
Since many people want to help with this critical need, they often ask their lawyers how they can become donors. This article will describe what you should do — besides simply indicating this desire on your Texas driver’s license.
A few statistics are set forth below to help those trying to decide if they’re ready to help others in this way, followed a description of the other steps you should take to be sure your decision to become a donor is faithfully honored in the future.
How many people’s lives are at stake annually due to the need for organ donation?

• About 20 Americans die each day due to the lack of available organs
• Since 1988, about 700,000 transplants have been performed in this country
• Nearly every 10 minutes, a new name is added to the donor recipient list
• It only takes one donor to save as many as eight lives. In fact, one donor can improve the quality of life for over 100 individuals – just by making extensive tissue donations
• The most commonly transplanted tissue is the cornea of the eye
• Roughly 6,000 living donations are made each year. And one-fourth of the donors are not family members or biologically related to the person in need.
• About 1 in every 26 Americans has a kidney disease without knowing it – that equals about twenty-six million people who might one day require a transplant.

Living donors are also needed. Healthy people can donate part (or all) of a kidney, liver, intestine or lung. Sick patients are also in need of bone marrow and blood from healthy donors.
How do most Texans handle this decision to donate tissue or organs?
States like Texas have tried to simplify this process by allowing those wishing to donate their organs or tissues (in the future) to indicate that on their Texas driver licenses. Residents of the state can also have their Houston estate planning attorney directly state this commitment in their Medical Power of Attorney or Advance Directive. This latter approach can help remove the anxiety from the shoulders of family members once this information has been legally documented in this manner.
The third way people can indicate their desire to be organ donors is to directly sign up with DonateLifeTexas.org . You can learn more about this process by watching the following video created by DonateLifeTexas.org .
Please feel free to contact any of our Murray Lobb attorneys so we can meet all your business and estate planning needs. We look forward to sharing our legal skills and advice with you.

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