During my latest experiment to measure the impact of  legislation (opt-in or opt-out) on cadaveric organ donations, I found out that most people do not know the legislation on organ donations in the U.S.  Most of the respondents ended up not being sure if they needed to sign-up for donation, even if most states have a donation section on the drivers’ license.

Another interesting result is that 60% of the respondents would be less likely to give their organs of their loved ones if asked.  Such a result makes intuitive sense.  Organ donation collection seem to be difficult for the families with religious beliefs, cultural beliefs about death and brain-death.  Usually the lack of information about the process of organ recovery leads to low rates of donations.  Spain has developed a program in which trained transplant coordinators that speak to bereaved families in the midst of grieving.  If asked if the presence of a trained transplant coordinator would help them consider giving organs of a loved one, half of the respondents that did not accept before said they would be likely to accept.

Indeed the problem is not so much the legislative system but helping the family coping with the death and let a professional explain how organ collection works at the time of death would help increase the donations in the U.S.