Who can be an organ donor?
Anyone, regardless of age or medical history, can sign up to be a donor, however anyone younger than 18 must have the consent of a parent or guardian. Do not assume that your age or medical history will exclude you from becoming a donor.
To be a living donor, you cannot have high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, HIV, hepatitis, kidney disease, or heart disease. Living donor candidates should be in good physical and mental health and at least 18 years old.
For donation after death, a medical assessment will be conducted to determine which, if any, of your organs can be donated. If you have HIV, actively spreading cancer, or evidence of a severe infection, your organs would be excluded from consideration.
Read this post in its entirety:
Organ Donation: Is an RA Patient Allowed to Donate?
Thanks, Lisa. I just blogged last week that I wanted to donate what was salvageable after I died. Some of the comments indicated that MS may preclude those donations, but as you said, there's always research. Thanks for the contact info.
ReplyDeletePeace,
Muff
Hi Muff,
ReplyDeleteAs I learn more, I did finally find a document which specified tissue donations from an MS patient would not be appropriate for transplantation. Organs are still debatable.
There is always brain and tissue donation for MS research which is the subject I posted about today on HealthCentral.
www.healthcentral.com/multiple-sclerosis/c/19065/151688/tissue/