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Transplantation Services

Organ Transplantation

Organ Donation

Register to be a Donor

 

 

NewYork-Presbyterian and the New York Mets are proud to partner on an initiative to help those in need of an organ transplant. With more than 103,000 people across the country waiting for a transplant each day, your decision to become an organ donor can help save a life.

 

The Mets recently celebrated NewYork-Presbyterian patient Jerry Cahill, a triple-transplant recipient who is now thriving thanks to the gift of life from his organ donors.

 

Learn more about Jerry’s story in the video below!

 

Register here to be an organ donor.

 

Register

 

Become an Organ Donor

 

Did You Know?

  • A single donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation.
  • Of the more than 103,000 people currently waiting for life-saving organ transplants in the U.S., over 8,000 live in New York.
  • When you register, you can choose what organs and tissues you want to donate, and you can update your status at any time.
  • Most religions support organ donations.
  • You must be at least 16 years or older to be on the New York State Donate Life Registry.

 

New York Residents

To register as an organ donor, enroll in the New York State Donate Life Registry.

Get more information in English and Spanish.

 

Other States

Visit Donate Life America to add your name to your state’s registry.

What is Living Organ Donation?

Living organ donation offers another choice for transplant candidates and initiates a chain reaction that often positively affects more than one person. When a recipient receives a donation from a living donor, the recipient comes off the deceased organ waiting list, thus moving everybody else up on the list and potentially saving more lives.

 

Living organ donation was developed as a direct result of the critical shortage of deceased donors to meet all the needs of patients awaiting organ transplant. Over the last few years, transplant surgeons and other members of transplant teams throughout the country have developed new techniques and procedures to save more patients’ lives through living donor transplants. It is now possible for a living person to donate a kidney, a portion of the liver, a portion of a lung, and, in some rare instances, a portion of the pancreas. Patients who are able to receive a living donor transplant can receive a higher-quality organ much sooner, often in less than a year.

 

NewYork-Presbyterian’s Living Donor Transplant Program offers patients the possibility of earlier transplantation, faster recovery and better outcomes. With a living donor transplant, patients receive an organ, or portion of an organ, from a living person, such as a relative, friend, or in some cases, a stranger.

 

Physicians and their families choose NewYork-Presbyterian for their living donor transplant because of our reputation as one of the best programs in the US. Our living donor program achieves excellent outcomes for liver and kidney transplant recipients, which exceed the national expected outcomes. We’ve performed more living donor transplants over the last decade than any other transplant center in the country.

 

As a national leader in living donor transplants, our specialists pioneer new methods to increase the viability of available organs, expedite patient-donor pairings, and improve surgical outcomes.

The Gift: Donating a Kidney to a Stranger

Kallie's chances of finding a match for a kidney transplant were 1 in 100. Here’s how a stranger helped her defy the odds — and how both their lives irrevocably changed.

 

Related Videos

 

What is Deceased Organ Donation?

Deceased organ donation is the process of giving an organ or a part of an organ at the time of the donor’s death for the purpose of transplantation to another person.

 

Most people become eligible for organ donation after brain death due to stroke or severe head injury, though this is not always the case. In some instances, organs can be donated after cardiovascular death.

 

Lifesaving organs that can be donated include heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and intestines.

 

Organ donation and my health care: Your decision to become an organ donor will have no impact on the care you receive should you fall ill. Saving each patient's life is the healthcare provider's first priority, and organ donation is considered only after every effort has been made to save the patient's life.

 

In addition, there are strict legal guidelines that must be carefully followed before brain death can be declared and organs recovered. The doctors who treat a patient at the time of death are in no way involved with those responsible for organ recovery.

 

Your family does not pay any medical costs associated with donation. NewYork-Presbyterian and LiveOnNY are separate organizations but work together: NewYork-Presbyterian doctors and other clinical staff will do everything possible to save your life. After all lifesaving efforts have been exhausted, hospitals are required by state and federal law to notify their appropriate organ recovery organization of a potential donor. NewYork-Presbyterian’s designated organ recovery organization is LiveOnNY, a federally designated organ procurement organization for the greater New York City area.

 

Fairness and equity in donation: The national computerized waiting list for organ donation is independently maintained by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and is blind to race, gender, financial or celebrity status. U.S. law prohibits the buying and selling of organs. Directed donation to a specific individual who is waiting on the transplant list is possible if the donor and recipient are a match.

Organ donation in the United States is administered by the United Network for Organ Sharing, a non-profit, scientific and educational organization that administers the nation’s only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), established by the U.S. Congress in 1984.

 

NewYork-Presbyterian and its Regional Hospital Network is proud to be acknowledged by the Health Resources & Service Administration (HRSA), a U.S. government agency, with the Platinum award for outstanding efforts to promote donation awareness and donor registration.