Deal or No Deal for Organs?

We've got a deal for you. You agree to donate your organs to other organ donors when you die. In return, you'll increase your chances of getting an organ transplant if you ever need one to live. We have one question for you: deal or no deal?

Before you answer, let's look at what you get if you accept this deal. What is it worth to increase your chances of getting a transplant? To answer that, you should know some facts about the organ shortage in New York and around the country.

There are over 8,500 New Yorkers on the national transplant waiting list, which totals over 95,000 people. More than half of the people on the list will die waiting.

About 700 New Yorkers on the transplant waiting list will die this year, along with about 5,300 from other states. Another 100 New Yorkers will be removed from the list because while they were waiting, they became too sick to undergo transplant surgery. So will another 1,900 people from around the country. These people also will die very soon.

The transplant waiting list gets longer every year. This year, about 48,000 people will join the list, and only about 30,000 people will receive transplants. The numbers in New York mirror the national situation — 4,000 New Yorkers will be added to the waiting list this year, while only about 2,500 New Yorkers will receive transplants.

So if you are ever unlucky enough to need an organ transplant, you will be very lucky to get one. Improving your chances, even by a little bit, could save your life. This deal looks very good so far.

Now let's look at what you must do to accept this deal. You must agree to donate your organs after you're dead, so here are some facts about organ donation.

There is no age limit on organ donation, and even people with serious medical conditions can offer to donate their organs.

Contrary to popular belief, doctors don't let registered organ donors die so they can transplant their organs. Doctors and hospitals make a whole lot more money — and get sued a whole lot less — by keeping people alive than by letting them die.

Organ donation doesn't cost anything, and it doesn't keep anyone from having an open-casket funeral.

Most major religions support organ donation.

Agreeing to donate your organs does not commit you to donating skin, tissue, bone, or any other body part. Your body will not be used for research or to train medical students.

So there's really no down side to organ donation. There is a big up side — if your organs are transplanted, your donation will save several people's lives.

Let's go back to our deal. You can save your own life by agreeing to donate your organs after you're dead and can't use them anymore. We'll ask you again – deal or no deal?

If you want this deal, you can get it only from LifeSharers, a national nonprofit organ-donation network. The deal is free and available to everyone at www.lifesharers.orgor by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. If you are a parent, you can sign up your minor children for the deal.

LifeSharers members agree to offer their organs first to fellow members, if any member is a suitable match, before offering them to nonmembers. So if you join LifeSharers, you'll get preferred access to the organs of every other member.

So far, over 8,200 people have signed up for this deal. They include doctors, nurses, bioethicists, lawyers, college professors, teachers, musicians, writers, and members of the clergy. As more people take this deal, their chances of getting a transplant if they ever need one keep going up. So will yours, but only if you take the deal.

One more thing to keep in mind — if you don't take this deal, your chances of getting a transplant will keep going down as others do take it.

So what's it going to be — deal or no deal?