That is way overstepping boundaries. Next of kin owns upon death. Patient owns while alive. Family has likely P/A for medical care.

Does any organ donor program convey property rights to donor organizations when informed of imminent death? I doubt it.

The point of registering as an organ donor is for the donor to declare their intent in a way that is legally binding and family members cannot override. I want any useable organ I have left in my body when I die to go to anyone who needs it. Period. I don't care what my spouse, parents, siblings, etc. want. I want my body used to save the lives of others (heart, lungs, kidneys, liver), or to make life easier for others (skin, cornea, et.) Fortunately, al of my relatives who might have any say agree with me.

But - prior to registration via the driver's license, it was hit or miss as to whether organs were donated - even when the deceased had clear preference they had expressed to many people. Medical staff first had to ask a family in the middle of one of the toughest moments of their life about the possibility of donation. The deceased person often had not discussed the matter with family - AND - sometimes even when the family knew the wishes of the deceased but could not overcome their grief to allow the donation.

In most states, registration as an organ donor is definitive proof of the intents of the decedent and cannot be overridden by the family. It isn't a matter of ownership. It is a matter of my right to have my clearly expressed decisions about my body respected.

...because, like in this case, that is binding as to your final wishes. Your family doesn't get a say if you've indicated beforehand how you want your death to go down.

to dog that needs it.

When their family could override that wish for various reasons, religious or otherwise? Either you consent to it or revoke that consent. If it is there and you die, your family should not get a say.

Last edited Sun Feb 22, 2026, 05:56 PM - Edit history (1)

And everyone lost:

It doesn't sound like the family was interested in donating organs and I have very little sympathy for that position so I'm not inclined to give their account much credence in terms of being unbiased about the events.

(either heart or brain death). If they are providing palliative care, the patient was not dead, and no procurement would happen until they were dead.
So no, they were not proposing using heroic measures to save the patient's life. They were taking the necessary steps to preserve the viability of the organs of a person who had already died, and who had chosen to allow their organs to be used by others. To be viable, oxygen-enriched blood must continue circulating, but that is not life. I doubt the organ procurement group use the words "to continue life support," since that isn't what is happening after brain death - and no one even minimally trained in procurement would use that inflammatory language.

I won't have that problem, since my spouse and I are off similar minds. But at one point, my mother's desire to donate would have been overruled by my sister, had my mother's declaration not been binding.

Please don't use scare tactics of the system honoring the wishes of the decedent to discourage the most efficient means of getting your organs to people who need them.

Anything short of the registry leaves donation up to the initiative of medical people (who may not ask), relatives who may not know - or may disagree with the deceased persons wishes - or, as in the case you are citing, are too overcome with grief to allow the donation to go forward.

Full disclosure - my daughter will likely need a liver transplant (or more than one - friends with the same disease have needed as many as 5). We've also had friends die in the waiting list. But we've been organ donor for longer than she's been alive, and certainly longer than the 17 years she's had PSC

We need to do better than that.

A driver's license is something most people over age 16 carry with them, which discloses their wishes in a way that is accessible (on their person, or via the DMV) and (in most states) cannot be overridden by family which is too wrapped up in their own grief to know or follow the wishes of the deecedent.

Frankly, I think an opt out system would be better. But since that isn't likely to happen, this opt in system via a document which most adults have is an excellent alternative.