Facts About Donation
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The Basic Facts


  • On average eighteen people die every day in the U.S. while awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant.

  • The total number of patients waiting for an organ transplant today numbers more than 110,000.  More than one-third of them will die before a donor can be found.  Over 600 are 5 years old and younger.

  • The waiting list for organ transplants is growing at the rate of 4,000 per month. Another name is added to the waiting list every 10 minutes.

  • In the NMDS area, nearly 1000 people are on the waiting list, yet annually only 40 to 60 people donate one or more organ upon death.

  • A total of 28,000 organ transplants were performed in the United States during 2010.

  • Yet in 2010, there were only 7,266people who donated one or more organs upon death. There were another 5,983 living organ donors.

  • In 2010, 5,678 Americans - one every 92 minutes - died while waiting for a transplant.

  • The average consent rate for organ donation has risen from 58% in 2003 to almost 70%.    A recent Gallup poll found 93% of respondents willing to donate a deceased family member's organs if he or she had expressed this wish prior to death. To ensure your wish to give life is carried out, it is very important to sign up on the Donate Life New Mexico Registry either through the MVD when you apply for or renew your driver’s license. You may also signup online at:  Donate Life New Mexico  (LINK)

  • Transplantation is no longer considered experimental. It is a desired treatment for thousands with end-stage organ disease. Each year, approximately 900,000 Americans receive tissue transplants and more than 28,000 receive organ transplants.

  • In recent years, medical breakthroughs have greatly improved the success rate for transplantation... it now generally runs in excess of 80% for transplants overall.

  • Currently, only about 8,000 of the approximately 15,000 medically suitable potential donors actually donate each year in the U.S. Only about one third of the donation potential is being realized.

  • Under ideal conditions, one donor can provide as many as 9 organs (heart, 2 lungs, liver and liver segment, pancreas, 2 kidneys, and intestine). At today's average recovery rate, the current pool of potential donors could meet the needs of up to 50,000 people per year.

  • Some of the common myths and misconceptions about donation:

    •  Becoming a donor will not affect the quality of your medical care. Organ recovery takes place only after all efforts to save your life have been exhausted, and 2 doctors have declared you legally brain dead. The donor family pays none of the costs associated with donation. If you are a donor, you can have an open casket funeral.

    • Transplants are accessible and available to everyone. Celebrity status and wealth do not enter into the equation. Organs are allocated according to medical criteria (urgency of medical need, blood/tissue type, height and weight).

    • All major religions support or permit donation and consider it a gift, an act of charity.