Saturday Celebration: 48% of doctors are organ donors - are you?

In 2012,  15 people died waiting for a heart, 62 waiting for a liver, 69 waiting for lungs, and 84 waiting for a kidney. That is a lot of individuals, families, and communities affected by painful losses that might be avoided.

In Ontario, only 24% of the population has stepped up to be an organ donor.  While this may seem superficially selfish (and it is), most people simply haven't given serious thought to donating their organs/tissues at dead.  In fact, most people don't think about their death at all - our culture is remarkably uncomfortable with death and dying.

48% of Ontario's physicians, a population that is quite familiar with death and dying, are identified as donors.  Women physicians and younger doctors were more likely to donate than their male and/or more senior colleagues.

That commitment - and that reflection of some of the complexities of mortality - is worth celebrating.  Those numbers, however, need to seriously improve.

Join me in giving to others after
death.  After all, what are you going to with your organs or tissues when you're gone?

Go grab your health card, find two minutes, and become a donor.  Your gift can make a huge difference to 8 patients (and their families...and their communities...and our collective future).