More than 2,500 Ohioans who need an organ transplant are on the national waiting list. The Ohio Donor Registry is one important step in addressing the critical donor shortage here and across the United States. In December 2000, former Ohio Governor Bob Taft signed The Organ Donor Bill (Senate Bill 188). Among the key provisions of that bill were the following:
- Joining the Ohio Donor Registry is a way to help ensure that your decision to be a donor is known and carried out.
- The Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) is required to establish a donor registry of everyone who has agreed to make an anatomical donation. The information would be made available to procurement agencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Nearly 100,000 individuals who need an organ transplant are on the national waiting list. Of that number, thousands are Ohioans. A new name is added to the waiting list every 13 minutes.
- Every day, at least 19 people in the U.S. die due to the shortage of donated organs.
- One donor can help save or improve the lives of more than 50 people.
- Needed organs include heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine.
- Donated tissue includes bone, corneas (eyes), connective tissue (ligaments and tendons), heart valves, skin and veins/vessels. Tissue transplants can help patients suffering from cancer, arthritis, severe trauma, degenerative joint disease and other conditions.
