Give Life Alberta
There can be many questions when it comes to donating organs and tissues. Our FAQs aim to educate and dispel myths.
One deceased organ donor can save up to 8 lives. One deceased tissue donor can dramatically change, or sometimes save, up to 75 lives. Thousands of Canadians are currently waiting for organs, and many more are waiting for tissues. Hundreds are waiting in Alberta.
Organs which can be transplanted are the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, small bowel and pancreas. Tissues which can be transplanted are the eyes, skin, bone, tendons, cartilage and heart valves.
If you want to donate, don’t count yourself out. Each potential organ and tissue donor is evaluated by the medical team when the time comes.
For organ donation, there is no strict age limit; eligibility depends more on the person’s type of death and the health of their organs. Livers have been successfully transplanted from donors in their 80s, lungs and kidneys from donors in their 70s. Absolute contraindications (barriers) for organ donation are very few, and you should not assume you will be ineligible due to a health condition.
For tissue donation, the age limit is 81. Absolute contraindications for tissue donation are more restrictive than for organs, including but not limited to infectious diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C, active sepsis, and certain high-risk social behaviors such as non-medicinal intravenous drug use.
Living organ donation: Some healthy adults can safely donate one kidney or a lobe of their liver and still live a normal life. The University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton supports the living donation of kidneys and liver lobes, and the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary supports living kidney donation.
If you’re interested in becoming a living organ donor, ask your family doctor to refer you to a specialist, or contact your local living donor program for more information:
Give Life Alberta Living Donor
Phone: 1-844-GLA-OTDT (1-844-452-6838)
Email: info@givelifealberta.ca
Living tissue donation: Some healthy people can safely donate tissues, such as placenta (amniotic membrane) following a scheduled C-section delivery, and bone from a hip replacement surgery at some Edmonton hospitals.
Call 1-844-GLA-OTDT (1-844-452-6838) to speak with a Give Life Alberta Tissue Specialist.
Yes. If you donate your whole body to research or medical education, your organs and tissues cannot be used for transplantation. Arrangements for total body donation must be made prior to death, as registration is required. Please visit these links:
Edmonton: Anatomy | Department of Surgery
Most religions support organ and tissue donation as a life-saving act. If you are unsure, please talk to your spiritual leader or advisor.
Yes. The surgery to remove organs and tissues is done with the same care as any other surgery; the dignity of the person is maintained and their body is treated with respect. All areas that are disturbed during the removal of organs and tissues are reconstructed, including the eye area.
No. Saving a patient's life is a medical professional's first priority. It's only after every attempt has been made to save a patient, and death has been declared, that the donation process begins.
The chance of longer-term survival may be greater if the donor and recipient are closely matched in terms of their shared genetic background. Therefore, the more people who register to donate, the better a recipient's chances are of a match that leads to a longer life.
Legislation in Alberta ensures confidentiality for the donor. However, it’s up to the donor’s family to choose whether they want to share their decision with loved ones or keep it confidential.
If you’re interested in leaving a gift of life after you pass away, you’re encouraged to take 2 steps:
If you’re interested in living organ donation (for one kidney or a part of your liver), contact your local living donor program:
Give Life Alberta Living Donor
Phone: 1-844-GLA-OTDT (1-844-452-6838)
Email: info@givelifealberta.ca
Yes. Donor cards are no longer printed on the back of Alberta Health cards or drivers’ licenses. The online Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Registry was created in 2014 as a secure place for Albertans to record their donation decisions. Medical teams can access the information at the end of a potential donor’s life and discuss it with their family - then their family will be asked to provide final consent.
Letting your loved ones know you’d like to be a donor is one of the most important things you can do for them, as they will be asked to consent during the difficult time of your death (due to the time-sensitive nature of donation).
The conversation doesn’t have to be grim. You could start by showing them inspiring donation and transplant stories or a light-hearted, award-winning ‘All the Ways’ public awareness video.
Organ Donation: Only 1-2% of people are eligible for organ donation at the end of their life. Organs can only be donated if the patient has been maintained on a ventilator (respirator) in a hospital prior to death.
Someone who is eligible to donate organs has usually had an unexpected death following severe injury to their brain. This could be the result of a motor vehicle accident, spontaneous brain bleeding or trauma such as a fall.
Tissue Donation: Nearly everyone can be considered for tissue donation after they die. Tissues do not require the same conditions as organs to survive, so tissue donation is possible even after a person’s heart and lungs have stopped working.
Tissues must be recovered within 15-24 hours after death. The donor does not need to be maintained on a ventilator; this means they can come from any setting, including but not limited to long-term care, hospice or palliative home care.
When damage to the brain is severe, the brain swells. Inside the rigid skull, this swelling may stop all blood flow in the brain. With no blood flow, the brain no longer receives oxygen and nutrients essential for survival.
Once the brain dies, the body will also die. The person no longer has the ability to breathe on their own and must be maintained on a ventilator in an intensive care unit (ICU). Sometimes their body can be kept functioning for a short period of time through the use of a ventilator and medications. The patient may seem warm to the touch and their heart will continue to beat, but the patient is in fact deceased.
Neurological death or “brain death” is diagnosed with a series of clinical assessments and tests that are performed at least twice by two different physicians who are experienced in the determination of brain death, and who are not taking care of the intended organ recipients. These tests can determine:
Brain death is different from a coma, and is a non-reversible condition. Once brain death is determined, that is the legal time of death.
If a person dies outside of a hospital (i.e. nursing home, private home, or at the scene of an accident), organ donation would not be an option because the person would not be maintained on a ventilator. But tissue donation is often possible, depending on the timing of death.
If the patient’s family has decided to proceed with donation, a Give Life Alberta staff member obtains formal consent from the legal next-of-kin. In some cases, patients planning for end of life can provide their own consent during their end-of-life planning (e.g. palliative care, MAID).
A potential donor’s next-of-kin will be asked to provide answers to a standard medical and social questionnaire. This is to establish that the person’s organs and/or tissues are safe to transplant into another person. The questions relate to any illnesses the person might have had and whether they were at risk for contracting certain illnesses. For example, did they have a history of non-medicinal intravenous drug use?
No. Organ and tissue donation is recognized as an altruistic and very personal gift. Families are presented with the options and then given the choice. Our teams respect all decisions, whether they lead to donation or not. Our goal is to support the family in making an enduring decision.
There is no cost for organ and tissue donation to the donor or to the donor's family. The provincial healthcare system covers all medical expenses. Organ and tissue donation is considered an act of altruistic generosity. It is illegal to buy someone’s organs or tissues in Canada.
When a potential organ donor is in the ICU, the medical team does a thorough assessment to determine their stability, organ function and risk of disease. Even if the person’s organs were healthy in life, the process of death itself may cause injury, sometimes making the organs unsuitable for transplant.
After their next-of-kin signs the consent forms and completes the medical and social questionnaire, the medical team performs a physical examination on the potential donor, along with the following laboratory and diagnostic tests:
The time it takes to complete the organ and/or tissue donation process may vary, but it can take up to 72 hours.
Patients requiring transplants are matched to an available organ based on a number of factors: blood group, height, weight, medical urgency (sickest first), length of time on the waiting list, and geographical location. Specialists in the transplantation field choose recipients to best match the available organ or tissue. Donor families of deceased loved ones cannot choose the recipients.
Tissue donors do not have to be as closely matched to recipients. Choice of tissue for a recipient is based on various factors depending on the type of tissue and the intended use.
Donor families can contact their Donor Coordinator or Tissue Specialist at any time after donation for support or answers to questions. The coordinator can also put them in touch with other care professionals, as required.
Give Life Alberta can share limited information with the donor family about the condition of their loved one’s organ/tissue recipients. Sometimes no information is available as tissues from one person may go to many recipients and, unlike with organ donations, the tissues may be stored for future transplantation.
Donor families are invited to Give Life Alberta’s annual Donor Recognition Event, which honours donors and the loved ones who made their gifts of life possible. The event also gives them the opportunity to connect with other donor families, if they choose to do so.
Most previous donor families have shared that organ and/or tissue donation helped ease their grief and provided some comfort. They recognize they were given the opportunity to provide a gift of life to another person in an otherwise tragic situation.