Organ donation means giving your organ — or part of an organ — to someone who needs it to live. Organ transplantation is surgery to remove the organ from you and place it in the person who needs it. This might happen after you’ve died, if you’re an organ donor. But sometimes, you can donate an organ while you’re still alive.
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Organ donation and transplantation is the process of removing a healthy organ from a donor and giving it to someone who has organ failure. It involves two surgeries that happen around the same time: One for the donor (to remove the organ) and one for the recipient (to get the organ).
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Organ transplantation offers a second chance at life to people who have life-threatening diseases or injuries to their organs. But the need for organ donations far exceeds the supply. In the U.S., over 100,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant. But only about 48,000 organ transplants take place each year.
An organ donor is usually somebody who recently died and volunteered to donate their organs while they were alive. But you can also donate certain organs while you’re still alive. Here are the two types of organ donors:
Organs that you can donate after death are your:
Other body tissues that you can donate after death are your:
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Organs and tissues that you can donate while you’re still alive include:
Almost everyone is a potential donor. There’s no age requirement for deceased donors. It’s mostly about your overall health and the health of the organ or tissue you’re donating. Healthcare providers also look at the safety of the surgeries to donate and transplant the organ.
To become an organ donor after your death in the U.S., you can register with:
Joining a registry gives your legal consent to donate your organs after your death. It’s also a good idea to tell your family and friends about your wish to become an organ donor, too.
You can start the process of becoming a living organ donor by contacting a transplant center that performs living donor evaluations. If you want to donate to someone you know, you should contact their transplant hospital directly.
The process will start with a series of screening tests. You must be:
Organ donation and transplantation is a complex process. It begins with donation and ends with surgery to transplant an organ from one person to another.
The process is slightly different depending on whether it’s a deceased or living donor. The main difference is that deceased donations tend to happen very quickly. The turnaround time is usually several hours because the organs will start to break down after the organ donor’s death.
When the donor is living, there’s more planning involved, especially in the medical screening, consent and safety part of the transplant process.
The general steps are:
In the U.S., medical specialists from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) review the deceased donor’s medical history. They make sure the organs are still viable. They use their national database to find people who need each organ from the organ donor. They contact the transplant center where the recipient of the organ is registered.
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Many times, a living donor gives their organs to a family member or friend. They must go through many tests and screenings to make sure they’re a match. OPTN isn’t as involved with this type. But they do set safety practices that most transplant centers follow when performing a living donor transplant.
Many organ donors decide to donate organs before they die. The OPTN maintains a national database of registered organ donors. Once an organ donor dies, they check to make sure the person has consented. If so, they honor their wishes. If they didn’t consent before death, they ask the deceased donor’s family to consent.
Living donors volunteer and give consent on their own.
The next step is to match donor organs and tissues with the people who need them. The OPTN enters information on the donor’s blood type, body size, and available organs and tissues into a computer system. The system will find the closest match possible from its database of recipients.
The process is different for a living donor. The transplant center determines compatibility through blood tests and other evaluations. They confirm if you’re a match for someone who needs an organ.
Once a recipient has been identified, their transplant center will receive an electronic notification offering the donor organ. The transplant team will make the final decision on whether to accept the organ. If they accept, they’ll coordinate with the host Organ Procurement Organization (OPO). They’ll arrange for two operating rooms to be available for the donor and the recipient as soon as possible.
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For living donors, the transplant center works with the donor and recipient to schedule the surgeries.
For a deceased donor, a specialized surgical team recovers organs and tissues in a respectful, formal procedure. By federal law, it’s a different medical team from the one that cared for the donor at the end of their life. They’ll leave the donor’s body in fit condition for the funeral procedure of their or their family’s choice. The team will preserve the organs in special containers and deliver them to the recipient’s transplant hospital.
It’s different for living donors. They have surgery at the transplant center at around the same time as the person getting their organ. The transplant center coordinates the timing of the surgeries.
The organ recipient will be waiting at their transplant hospital when the donor organ arrives. They’ll have surgery as soon as possible. Organ transplant surgery is complex and can take several hours. The donor’s and recipient’s identities remain anonymous unless they choose to share them.
For a living donation and transplantation, the removal and transplant surgeries happen at about the same time, usually in the same hospital. Living donors usually know who’s getting their organ, but they can also choose to be anonymous.
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Organ donation and transplantation saves thousands of lives each year. It helps heal and restore quality of life, and gives people a second chance at life, in many cases.
There’s little risk to being an organ donor. It doesn’t affect the care you get before or after death in any way.
If you’re a living organ donor, some of the risks of donating an organ are:
There are risks to receiving an organ transplant. The main one is organ rejection. You take immunosuppressive medication for the rest of your life to prevent this. But these medications make you more likely to get infections because they weaken your immune system.
Whether you’re a living donor or an organ recipient, it can take two to six months to recover fully from organ transplant surgery. You may need to stay in the hospital for a few days to weeks. And you’ll likely need to take a month or two off from work. You can expect some degree of discomfort and physical limitation during your recovery. If possible, try to arrange for someone to help you out at home.
When you need an organ transplant, the wait can be tense. If you know someone who’s waiting for an organ, you may share their sense of urgency. And you may be able to help — if not the person you know, perhaps another. Every person saved by an organ donation and transplant gives the next person hope — and a chance to move up the list.
If you need an organ transplant, our providers at Cleveland Clinic are experts in every area, including the latest surgical techniques and follow-up care.
Last reviewed on 12/11/2025.
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