Organs include the heart, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, liver and intestines. Tissues include eyes, skin, bone, heart valves, tendons and vessels. Organ and tissue recovery takes place only after all efforts to save your life have been exhausted and death has been legally declared. The doctors working to save your life are entirely separate from the medical team involved in recovering organs and tissues. Donation neither disfigures the body nor changes the way it looks in a casket.
Donation costs nothing to the donor's family or estate.
No set age limit exists for organ donation. At the time of death, the potential donor's organs are evaluated to determine their suitability for donation. Therefore, people of any age wishing to become organ and tissue donors should complete a donor card and inform their family that they wish to donate. HIV and actively spreading cancer normally exclude people from donating organs. Otherwise, the organs are evaluated at the time of death.