Ohioans Express Support for Donation, Not All Register
More than 80 percent of Ohioans expressed a desire to donate organs after death, according to the 2010 Anatomical Gift Family Survey. However, only 52 percent have taken action to register their donation wish in the Ohio Donor Registry.
Lifeline of Ohio, on behalf of Donate Life Ohio, and the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati conducted a random statewide telephone survey of 2,012 Ohio adults in January 2010. The results of the survey offer some insight into what prevents Ohioans from taking the steps to register as donors, including:
- 31 percent of Ohioans who said they did not want to donate organ, eyes or tissue after death said they didn’t think their organs would be useful, thought that they were too old to donate or had health concerns that precluded them from donating.
- 66 percent of those surveyed said they have registered as organ, eye and tissue donors on their driver license – indicating that some Ohioans falsely believe they are registered donors.
The study also revealed that the common myths about organ and tissue donation are still prevalent:
- 28 percent of those polled believe that doctors are more interested in obtaining organs than saving lives of organ donors. This is the most common myth that prevents individuals from registering as donors. Doctors are only concerned with the lives in front of them, and an individual’s status as a donor is only considered after everything has been done to save his/her life and death has been declared.
- 9 percent of those surveyed do not believe that an open casket funeral is possible after donation. In fact, if an open casket was possible before donation, it will still be possible after donation.
- 6 percent of respondents believe that organ donation is against their religion, however all major religions in the U.S. support donation.
- While 31 percent of Ohioans who said they do not want to be donors think they are too old or unhealthy to donate, age and health are not prohibiting factors to donation. The oldest donor to date was 92 and saved a life by donating a liver. Individuals that have lived with diseases, like cancer and heart disease, have still given the “Gift of Life” after death.
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