Frequently asked questions about organ donation

After your death, you can donate these organs: heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and small intestine. In the Donor Register, you can indicate yourself which organs you do or do not want to donate. During your life, you can donate one of your two kidneys and part of your liver to help someone else.

Not everyone can donate organs after death. When someone passes away, a doctor checks whether the organs are suitable for donation. This depends, for example, on the age and health of the person who wants to donate. Also, an organ donor must always die in the hospital while on a ventilator. Whether someone can donate can only be determined after death.

Yes, even if you live an unhealthy lifestyle, you can sometimes still donate organs. If a donor organ does not arrive in time for someone on the waiting list, that patient will die. In that case, for example, a smoker's lungs may still be better than the patient's own diseased lungs. And the liver of someone who drank alcohol can sometimes still help a liver patient. A doctor examines in advance whether the organs and tissues are still suitable for transplantation.

Yes! A doctor always does everything possible to save the patient's life. They never let someone die to keep someone else alive. Only when it is certain that someone can no longer recover and death is expected does the doctor discuss organ donation with the next of kin. In the Netherlands, the doctor who determines the death is not involved in any potential transplantation at all.

Yes, you can be an organ and tissue donor if you have an illness. Your illness may affect which organs and tissues you can donate. A doctor will always examine what is possible.

Age is in principle not that important for donation. It is about whether your organ or tissue is still in good condition. Before the donation, a doctor will always examine whether the organs and tissues are still healthy enough.

Not everyone who is registered in the Donor Register with consent actually becomes a donor. The chance that someone can donate after death is not that high. There is only a 1 in 200 chance that someone who is registered in the Donor Register with consent will become an organ donor after death. There are various reasons why organ donation does not happen often. An organ donor must always die in an intensive care (IC) unit of a hospital and be ventilated by a machine. And the organs must still be suitable for transplantation.

Everyone can register a choice in the Donor Register, even if you have an illness or live an unhealthy lifestyle, for example. Whether someone can donate organs and tissues depends on many different things. For example, your health, age, and how someone died. Therefore, doctors can only determine whether or not you are suitable at the time of death.

Yes, that is possible. Everyone can fill in a choice in the Donor Register. Your sexual orientation makes no difference. Whether someone can donate organs can only be determined after death. It is then checked whether the organs are suitable for transplantation.

Yes. Organs and tissues are only removed when doctors are 100% certain that someone has died. The determination of death is carried out according to strict rules and by multiple doctors. Read more here about how organ donation works or watch a video in which we explain how brain death works.

Organ donation is only possible if someone is in the hospital in the intensive care unit on a ventilator and passes away. This is because the organs need oxygenated blood to remain suitable for transplantation. In the hospital, someone who has passed away can be ventilated by a machine. This ensures that enough oxygen-rich blood continues to reach the organs.

In the case of donation after the heart and circulation have stopped (DCD donation), organ donation is only possible if the donor goes to the operating room immediately after death. If someone passes away outside the hospital, this is not possible and the organs are no longer suitable for transplantation.

Yes, there is always time to say goodbye.Before and after the donor surgery, family and loved ones can be with the donor. After the donation procedure, the family decides for themselves what happens. For example, where someone is laid out and when the funeral takes place.