Organ Donation

State and federal law requires Thompson Health to ask families for consent for organ and tissue donation. We know it is important to allow the opportunity to those who wish to donate organs or tissue. The entire Thompson Health medical staff is sensitive to the feelings of a grieving family. Organ and tissue donation is always voluntary and confidential.

If you want more information on organ or tissue donation, ask the nurse or doctor.

UR Medicine Thompson Health and the nonprofit organization Donate Life New York State are teaming up to raise awareness of the lifesaving impact made by organ, eye, and tissue donors.

On Wednesday, April 10, Thompson staff members will raise a Donate Life flag on the flag pole just outside the Constellation for Health and Healing at F.F. Thompson Hospital. The flag will remain up through the end of April. The goal is to encourage members of the community to consider enrolling in the New York State Donate Life Registry. 

While more than 3,000 lifesaving organ transplants were performed in state last year, nearly 8,500 New Yorkers remain on the national organ transplant waitlist. In 2021, 465 patients awaiting an organ transplant in New York State died because the organ needed to save their lives was not donated in time.

A single organ donor can save up to eight lives, while tissue and cornea donors can improve more than 75 lives.

Seven million New Yorkers have already enrolled in the New York State Donate Life Registry, the state’s electronic database that documents a person’s authorization to be an organ, eye, and/or tissue donor upon their death. New Yorkers who haven’t already enrolled have several opportunities to do so:

1. Check “yes” in the “New York State Organ and Tissue Donation” section when applying for or renewing your driver license, learner permit, or non-driver ID. The DMV will transmit your enrollment to the Registry and print a heart icon and the words “Organ Donor” on your photo document.
2. Sign up through the MyDMV website located at https://dmv.ny.gov/mydmv/mydmv using your NY.gov login credentials. The DMV will transmit your enrollment to the Registry, but a heart icon and the words “Organ Donor” will not be printed on your photo document.
3. Enroll online in minutes by visiting the Registry’s website at donatelife.ny.gov.
4. Complete the optional “Register to donate your organs and tissues” section on the back of your NYS voter registration form. Your county Board of Elections will forward that page of the form to the New York State Donate Life Registry.
5. Check “yes” to the organ and tissue donation question when applying for health insurance through the New York State of Health Online Insurance Marketplace (nystateofhealth.ny.gov).

Additionally, New Yorkers can show their support for organ and tissue donation by purchasing a “Life-Pass It On” custom license plate from the DMV or making a voluntary $1 contribution to organ transplant research, education, and donation promotion projects by checking off the box when applying for or renewing their driver license, learner permit, or non-driver ID.

Register to be an organ, eye and tissue donor.