THE ISSUE: Organ donation

OUR OPINION: Registry puts legal weight beyond a person’s stated intentions

More than 1.2 million South Carolina drivers —about a third of motorists — have indicated their desire to be organ donors by having the red heart symbol with the letter “Y” on their driver’s licenses. The priority now is to get them to do more.

South Carolina has been asking driver’s license applicants since 1980 about organ donation. The problem has been their agreement means little legally.

The heart only symbolizes an individual’s desire to become a donor; it does not indicate legal consent. It does not inform relatives or medical personnel of someone’s intentions to donate organs.

The landscape changed earlier this year with establishment of a new state registry that links donors to people who need transplants.

The challenge now is to get people who declared their intentions via the red heart to take the next step. They may think they already are donors, but the names of those who previously indicated their desire to be donors could not be automatically transferred into the registry.

Through registering to be an organ/tissue donor, consent is no longer required from any other person unless the donor is under the age of 18. For minors under the age of 18, the parent or legal guardian will also be required to consent at the time of donation.

The S.C. Donor Registry has experienced success in its first months, with 53 percent of South Carolinians who have obtained a driver’s license/identification card since the launch of the registry on Dec. 23 having said “yes” to giving “the gift of life.” That is well above the national average of 38 percent and represents more than 93,000 South Carolinians who have said “yes” to being organ and tissue donors.

April is designated as Donate Life Month. Hospitals in South Carolina will fly or display a Donate Life flag as part of a national initiative called “Flags Across America” in support of organ and tissue donation. Volunteers and staff will also work at health fairs and other events to help educate the public and bring added awareness to the need for more donors.

Last year in South Carolina, 159 people became organ donors at their death and helped save more than 481 lives. But so much more can be done. Every 11 minutes another person is added to the national transplant waiting list. Eighteen people a day die waiting on a transplant.

If you haven’t considered being an organ donor previously, you are urged to do so. If you are a person having declared your intent, be certain your wishes are carried out by becoming a part of the S.C. Donor Registry.

Individuals can register by visiting www.Every11Minutes.org site and/or by obtaining, renewing or changing their S.C. driver’s license/ID at any S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles office. When a person registers through the SCDMV, a new logo representing legal consent will be placed on his or her license/ID. It is a heart and “Y” surrounded by a circle with 11 “ticks” in it. The symbol and registry Web site name represent those 11 minutes that see another person added to the national transplant waiting list.

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