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FAQs
There are many benefits of organ and tissue donor registration. First, through organ and tissue donation, you can save and enhance lives of many fellow Ontarians waiting for transplant. Second, when you register your consent to donate, this information is recorded and stored in a Ministry of Health and Long-Term database and will be made available to the right people at the right time, only for the purpose of ensuring that your donation decision is known and respected. Lastly, by making your donation decision today, you relieve your family of the burden to make this decision on your behalf.
Today, you can register your consent at an OHIP office when you renew or register for your health card. If you have the red and white card or have recently renewed your card and did not consent to donate, you can go to the Trillium Gift of Life Network website and download a Gift of Life Consent Form. Then fill it out and mail it in to the address on the form.
If you have previously registered a decision of "Yes" to donate organs and tissue with OHIP, you do not need to re-register.
Ontario has changed the way donation decisions are recorded. As of December 4, 2008 only a "yes" to organ and tissue donation will be collected and stored in the Ontario Health Insurance (OHIP) database.
If you have previously registered "no" or "undecided", this decision will no longer be used or disclosed by the Ontario government to TGLN as of July 1, 2009. Therefore, it is important that you speak to your family about your wishes.
A donor card is a paper card carried by the prospective donor. Your decision to donate is only known to the extent that you share this decision with your family and friends.
However, when you register your consent to donate organs and tissue with OHIP, this information is stored in a Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care database. The Ministry will disclose information about your decision to Trillium Gift of Life Network, Ontario's organ and tissue donation agency, for the purpose of ensuring that your decision to donate is known and respected. By registering your consent to donate, you ensure that your donation decision is recorded and is made available to the right people at the right time, and is shared with your loved ones.
Our goal is to increase organ and tissue donation in Ontario. Our research shows jurisdictions that have instituted a "Yes" only registry have experienced an increase in donor registrations.
Only Ontario residents with valid OHIP cards are eligible to register their consent with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
No. At this point in time, registration forms are available at any OHIP office or you can download one here, www.health.gov.on.ca, or at www.healthyontario.com which can be mailed in. In the future, our hope is to have numerous outlets for Ontarians to register their organ and tissue donation consent, including online registration.
No. If you have not registered your consent to donate with OHIP, your family would be approached by Trillium Gift of Life Network (and health care professionals) to discuss the option of donating your organs and tissue. Your family can consent to donate on your behalf, if you are unable to do so.
Therefore, it is important that you share your donation decision with your loved ones, so that they can fulfill your donation decision in the event of your death. If your decision is "Yes", you can now relieve them from the burden of that decision by registering your consent to donate organs and tissue with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
You may withdraw your consent at any time.
If you have questions about changing or withdrawing your consent, please call: You may change or withdraw your consent at any time by visiting any Health Card Services - OHIP office or Outreach site, or by writing to: Organ Donor Consent Information Processing Unit 1055 Princess Street, Suite 215 P.O. Box 48 Kingston, Ontario K7L 5J3
Your decision to consent to donate is stored in a Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care database. The Ministry will use and disclose the information about your decision to the Trillium Gift of Life Network only for the purpose of ensuring that your decision to donate is known.
Your organ and tissue donation decision will only be accessed by the Trillium Gift of Life Network and shared with your family in the event of your death or imminent death when all lifesaving efforts have failed. Your donation decision will not be accessed by Trillium Gift of Life Network at any other time.
Trillium Gift of Life Network is Ontario's organ and tissue donation agency and is responsible for coordinating the organ and tissue donation process. Trillium Gift of Life Network is contacted when someone has died, or when death is imminent to determine if the person dying is eligible to save and enhance lives through organ and tissue donation.
If a person is eligible to donate, Trillium Gift of Life Network works closely with the healthcare professionals at the hospital to support the grieving family through the decision to donate, and ensure as many people as possible are helped through the gift of life.
Trillium Gift of Life Network is a not-for-profit provincial government agency dedicated to planning, promoting, coordinating and supporting organ and tissue donation across Ontario, and improving the system so that more lives can be saved. Trillium Gift of Life Network was created by the Ontario government's Trillium Gift of Life Network Act, legislation designed to significantly increase organ and tissue donation in Ontario, and become operational in April 2002.
No. If you have previously registered a decision of "Yes" to organ and tissue donation with OHIP, you do not need to re-register.
You can however change or withdraw your consent at any time by visiting any Health Card Services - OHIP office or Outreach Site, or by writing to: Organ Donor Consent Information Processing Unit 1055 Princess Street, Suite 215 P.O. Box 48 Kingston, Ontario K7L 5J3
Your decision to donate could save a life. There is a chronic shortage of organs and tissue in Ontario and the need for organs and tissue continues to outweigh their availability. More than 1,700 Ontarians are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant and many others are waiting for a tissue transplant.
The first and foremost concern for healthcare professionals caring for critically ill patients is to do everything possible to save lives. The possibility of donation is only considered when all lifesaving efforts have failed. The health care professional teams responsible for supporting donation are separate and independent from the health care professional teams responsible for transplantation.
It is the Trillium Gift of Life Network's practice to reaffirm an individual's consent to donate with the family. In almost all cases, families honour and respect their loved ones' donation decision if they are given evidence that it's what their loved one wanted. Therefore it is important to register your consent to donate so that your family can be advised of your decision to donate.
Everyone can be a donor regardless of age, medical condition or sexual orientation. Your decision to register should not be based on whether you think you would be eligible or not. A donor's eligibility is determined by the health care team upon their death.
No. A person must be a minimum of 16 years of age to register their consent to donate.
Much medical research depends on the use of human biological material. It often provides the best way of understanding how the body works and reacts to treatment. It can also help advance and improve organ and tissue transplantation. If for some reason your organs and tissues cannot be transplanted, they can be donated for research purposes if you have specifically indicated consent to donate organs and tissue for both transplant and research.
Donating your organs and tissues for research is different than donating your body to science.
If you do not wish to donate organs, you may want to support teaching and research activities at a medical school by considering whole body donation, an important gift to the training of professionals in health-related disciplines. For more information about whole body donation, please call the anatomy school of your choice or the Office of the Chief Coroner at 1-877-991-9959. If you give your body to medical science, your organs and tissue will not be available for transplantation. Similarly, if you donate organs or tissue, you cannot donate your body to science.
Living organ donation may be an option for a healthy adult who has a family member or close friend in need of a kidney, liver, lung or small bowel transplant. With living donation, a kidney or portion of the liver, lung or small bowel is removed from the donor and transplanted into the patient in need of a new organ.
Deceased organ donation can take place when someone has been declared brain dead, a doctor has determined the organs can be used for transplant, and loved ones opt to artificially maintain vital organs by ventilator to keep them suitable for transplant. This type of donation is referred to as donation after neurological determination of death. Another option for donation is organ donation after cardiac death (DCD). DCD offers families the option of donation in cases where neurological criteria for death have not been met, and the decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment has been made. A DCD patient has no hope of survival or meaningful functional status, but does not meet brain death criteria. In Europe and the United States, DCD has been an option for families for over thirty years. In Ontario, the option of organ donation after cardiac death will be piloted in select hospitals over the next year. Tissue donation can take place in most cases when someone has died, as long as the tissue is determined suitable for transplant by a doctor. With tissue donation, there is no need for blood flow to be maintained by artificial ventilation after death.
The recovery of organs and tissues may take up to 24 hours. It typically does not impact funeral or burial arrangements, and often occurs while family members are making plans and contacting others.
Donation involves these steps at the time of death:
Consent is confirmed with families at the hospital during end-of-life discussions. Testing is done to confirm the medical suitability of the organs and tissues and to determine who is the best match for transplant. A Trillium Gift of Life Network Coordinator speaks with the donor's family to obtain the medical & social history of the person who has died. Recovery of the organs occurs in the Operating Room. Trillium Gift of Life Network will contact the family when recovery is complete and will send a letter to the family to thank them for the donation and to inform them of the outcome.
Eligibility to donate is assessed at the time of death by Trillium Gift of Life Network Coordinators. Most diseases do not automatically exclude a person from donating.
A medical social history interview, similar to the one completed to donate blood, is performed with the family. Every organ is tested for suitability to ensure that as many people as possible can be helped through transplant. Organs or tissue not suitable for transplantation can be used for scientific research and medical education. Currently important research is being done on diseases of the eye, improving the quality of lungs to see if they can be transplanted, and collecting stem cells from the spinal cord to help patients with spinal cord injuries.
The body is released to the family or funeral home. Every effort is made to schedule the recovery of organs and tissue in a timely fashion.
Yes. Permission to recover tissues from the Coroner is required.
In cases where the Coroner requests an autopsy, or in cases where there will be a hospital autopsy, recovery of organs and tissues occurs before the autopsy is performed.
An open casket funeral is possible. Organ recovery from the abdomen or chest usually involves one surgical incision that clothing would cover.
When corneas are donated, typically the whole globe of the eye is removed. Funeral homes provide eye caps to maintain the shape and form of the eyes. This is usual practice whether eyes are donated or not. Multi-tissue donation requires incisions to remove bones and heart valves from the body. An open casket funeral is possible, however this may impact the clothes worn by the deceased at the funeral. The appearance of the skin after recovery is similar to that of sunburn. A paper-thin layer of skin is removed from the back of the body permitting an open casket funeral. Donation does not typically delay funeral arrangements. Any concerns about timing can be discussed with the Trillium Gift of Life Network Coordinator.
Donation is a confidential and anonymous process. Donor family members and recipients do not know each other's identity. Donor family members are provided general information about recipient(s) via a letter from Trillium Gift of Life Network. They may write to each other through Trillium Gift of Life Network. All identifying information is removed.
Organs and tissue that can be donated include the heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, small bowel, stomach, corneas, heart valves, bone and skin.
Yes. No one will know about your gift of life unless your family tells them.
Organ donation saves lives and is often the only treatment option for people with organs that are damaged through injury or disease and who would otherwise die.
Eye donation restores sight after disease, injury or congenital blindness. Bone donation restores mobility and prevents amputation. Hearts donated for heart valves repair birth defects in children and others. Skin donation provides life-saving wound covering for burns. Transplants not only save lives, they recapture productive lives. Outcomes continue to improve each year so more and more transplant patients are living enhanced, productive lives.
Any Ontario resident who is at least 16 years of age can register their consent to donate their organs and tissues after their death.
Most major religions support organ and tissue donation because it can save the life of another. If your religion restricts the use of a body after death, consult your religious leader. These restrictions may not include organ and tissue donation, if the donation could save another life.
Learn more about religious and cultural perspectives on organ and tissue donation.
You may indicate your decision to donate all organs and tissue or only specified organs and tissue.
Donated organs and tissue are given to individual recipients based on need, blood type, genetic match and other criteria. "Directed-donation," as it is known, is not practiced in Canada. Only through living donation can the recipient be designated. Living donation may be an option for kidney, liver or lung transplants. If you are interested in being considered as a living donor, discuss this with your doctor.
The hospital will contact Trillium Gift of Life Network, which keeps a list of everyone in Ontario who is waiting for an organ transplant. Trillium Gift of Life Network will match the tissue and blood type of the donor to an individual(s) on the waiting list. If a match is found the individual(s), who for medical reasons most needs a transplant, will receive the donated organs. If the medical urgency is the same, the individual on the waiting list the longest will receive the organ. If there is no suitable match, a cross-reference is made across Canada and possibly in the United States. This is done to save lives.
Trillium Gift of Life Network does not undertake or participate in fundraising activities relating to organ and tissue donation. We are not affiliated with, nor do we endorse, any organization that may solicit funds from you for these purposes.
For more information please click here
Families should not incur any costs associated with the donation process.
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