New York Organ Donor Network
Home
About Us
Organ and Tissue Donation
Overview
Organ Donation Facts
Tissue Donation Facts
Gift of Life Stories
How to Become a Donor
National Programs
Contact Us
Contact Us
Transplantation
Gift Of Life Stories
News and Events
Enroll in NYS Donor Registry
Information Center
Volunteer
Financial Contributions
Info By Audience Type
Which Organs Can Be Donated?Which Organs Can Be Donated Organ Donation ProcessOrgan Donation Process Survival RatesSurvival Rates
   
Organ Donation FAQOrgan Donation FAQ What is Living Organ Donation?What Is Living Donation?
     
What is Living Organ Donation?What Is the Living Donor Kidney Exchange?   What is Living Organ Donation?What Is Total Body Donation?

What is Living Organ Donation?


Unfortunately, there are currently not enough organs donated by deceased donors to meet all of the needs of patients awaiting an organ transplant. Therefore, over the last few years, transplant surgeons and other members of transplant teams throughout the country have developed new techniques and procedures to save more patients' lives through living donor transplants. It is now possible for a living person to donate a kidney, a portion or their liver, a portion of a lung and in some rare instances, a portion of their pancreas.

There are many different ethical issues relating to living donors. Competing interests arise in this type of donation including the interests of the donor, the needs of the intended recipient and society for the organ transplant, the interests of the next of kin of both the donor and the recipient, and the interests of the transplant center caring for the awaiting recipient.

Living donations are handled by each individual transplant center where the recipient is waiting. However, the New York Organ Donor Network has launched a program that tries to match one potential donor-recipient pair that is biologically incompatible with another pair that faces a similar obstacle, thereby overcoming the incompatibility. Find out more about our Living Donor Kidney Exchange Program.

Whether donation is living or non-living, we know that it is done lovingly.


<< Back to Organ Donation Facts
 
  | | Webmaster

Address: 132 West 31st Street , 11th Floor, New York, NY 10001 | Phone: 646.291.4444 | Fax: 646.291.4600
24-hour Referral Line/Public Information: 800-GIFT-4-NY


© 2008 New York Organ Donor Network, Inc.