Giving the Gift of Life
One of the most remarkable success stories in the history of medicine is transplant surgery. This life-saving process gives hope to thousands of people suffering from organ failure, or in desperate need of corneas, skin, bone, or other tissue. Currently, more than 100,000 people nationwide await life-saving transplants, and in 2025, 13 Americans die waiting for them every day.
Washington state law supports an individual’s decision to donate their organs, tissues, and even their whole body upon death. People's Memorial Association encourages individuals to become donors through reputable nonprofit programs, described below. You may register as an organ or tissue donor through the Washington Department of Licensing Organ Donor Program when you renew your driver’s license, through the Washington State registry Donate Life Today, or by calling 1-877-275-5269.
You can find detailed information about organ and tissue donation by Life Center Northwest, and additional detailed info about body, organ, and brain donation by the Funeral Consumers Alliance.
Please note: in order to be an organ donor, death must be imminent in a hospital while the patient is on ventilation support. An eligibility assessment will only be conducted once all life-saving options have been attempted -- medical procedures will not be cut if you are a donor, as hospital staff are unaware if a patient is a donor when they enter the hospital. Hospitals are federally required to report an imminent death to a recovery organization, such as LifeCenter Northwest, who will then consult the private registry and contact next of kin before proceeding. If you die outside of a hospital, you will be ineligible for organ donation, however tissue or cornea donation may still be possible within 15 - 24 hours after death.
LifeCenter Northwest
LifeCenter Northwest is one of 56 federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organizations in the U.S. LifeCenter Northwest saves and enhances lives by facilitating the recovery of organ and tissue in Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Northern Idaho. They work directly with hospitals to continue developing their program and relationships, and manage the donor registry for Washington state. When a donation is possible, via assessment by their own medical team, LifeCenter Northwest supports the next of kin in finalizing decisions while at the hospital. Giving the gift of organ or tissue donation is an impactful choice, which is why they also provide a minimum of 18 months after care to donor families. You can also find them providing education and outreach to Washington citizens about their program.
Other reputable regional non-profit organizations:
- Lions World Vision Institute (formerly SightLife)
- LifeNet Health | Renton (formerly Northwest Tissue Services)
Frequently Asked Questions for Tissue & Organ Donation:
- What can be recovered?: The following organs may be donated: heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, intestine, pancreas, cartilage, femur, tendon, skin, heart valves, corneas, and/or humerus bone. In some cases, a donor is able to provide multiple organs or tissues for multiple recipients.
- Who can donate?: Do not rule yourself out! Even if you are in your 80s or 90s, there is still the potential one or more of your organs can be recovered for a recipient. A medical assessment will be completed at the time of referral by LifeCenter's medical staff to determine eligibility. Please note: in order to be an organ donor, death must be imminent in a hospital while the patient is on ventilation support. An eligibility assessment will only be conducted once all life-saving procedures have been attempted. If you have advance directives that restrict certain life-saving procedures, this does not necessarily render you ineligible to also donate.
- If you die outside of a hospital, you will be ineligible for organ donation, however tissue or cornea donation may still be possible within 15 - 24 hours after death. In this instance, next of kin will need to have the funeral home contact and coordinate with the recovery program, as the donation procurement will instead happen at the mortuary.
- What if I'm a registered donor but my family / power of attorney opposes?: The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act protects your decision should you register ahead of time. We always highly recommend, as with any end-of-life decision, that you discuss your wants and wishes with your family, medical power of attorney, and/or funeral designated agent so they are aware and can discuss their concerns with you in life and knowledgably carry out your desires in death.
- What if I didn't register ahead of time but would approve?: Your family / medical power of attorney can decide to authorize donation in the case you did not register ahead of time.
- How much does organ or tissue donation cost?: There is no cost to a donation family, including the 18+ months of after care provided by LifeCenter Northwest. All costs are handled through their program.
Full Body Donation
University Willed Body Programs
You may decide you want to donate your entire body to a University for the advancement of their research. It is necessary to contact and determine eligibility through the school and program of your choice prior to illness or death. Also, the desire to donate is higher than the demand, so it is likely you may be unable to donate and need to consider another option. Please also be aware that in some cases, your next of kin will still need to make arrangements with a funeral home once the school has completed their work, as some programs do not include burial or cremation afterwards. In most cases, you cannot both donate organs/tissues and donate full body, it will need to be one or the other.
Two of the largest options are the UW Willed Body Program or the WSU Medical Education Program for medical teaching and research. Each of these state universities provides free cremation of your body when its study is complete. If you desire to donate to either of these programs, complete the Donor Registration Form(s) and submit to their program office addresses shown on the bottom of their forms:
Mortuary School Gifted Body Program
Washington state has one mortuary college, at Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland. They accept full body donations to support their embalming courses, and provide cremation after so the next of kin can receive the ashes for memorialization. For more information and to register with their program, contact the Program Director, Jennie Fredrickson, at 425-739-8306.
Other Programs for Body Donation
There are many for-profit entities in the realm of body or tissue donation, some which advertise free cremation in exchange. We highly recommend first considering a non-profit or University / school first, and if you decide to proceed with a business, ensure you read all of the fine print. Understand that you may have less decisions or knowledge about how your body or organs will be used. While selling human bodies and body parts is illegal, it is not illegal to charge sizable handling fees that can amount to as much as $20,000 per body. As a result, a whole industry has emerged to profit from this gray area of law and ethics.
Donate Life Northwest suggests asking the following questions of a body donation program you may be considering:
- Who benefits from my donation?
- Will my body be used to make a profit?
- How much will whole body donation cost (specifically, what are the costs of transportation and cremation)?
- Will I have the option of donating my organs, eyes, or tissues for transplantation?
- Will my body remain in the region?
- Do you make available a complete listing of programs, companies, or institutions to which you supply?
