Organ Donations and Other Adventures at the DMV

Chrissy (all names have been changed) was brain dead. After the doctors made the brain death determination, someone from the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency met with her family and told them that she had elected to be an organ donor when she had gotten her driver’s license.

Lee Aronson

At first, Chrissy’s mom was against the idea because she did not want her daughter “cut on.” But after further discussion, her mom, her dad and her brother all agreed to honor Chrissy’s wishes and allowed her organs to be donated.

Six months later, while cleaning out Chrissy’s room, her mom found her daughter’s driver’s license. As she looked at it closely, she noticed that it did NOT say that Chrissy wanted to be an organ donor. Here’s what had happened: Chrissy actually had 2 driver’s licenses. The one she had in her wallet at the hospital said she DID want to be an organ donor, but it had expired a year or two before Chrissy had been hospitalized. Chrissy’s current non-expired driver’s license, the one that her mom found in her room, did NOT say that Chrissy wanted to be an organ donor.