Can you be an eligible post-mortem organ donor candidate when you are traveling abroad?

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Some countries have opt-in arrangements, others have opt-out arrangements when it comes to post-mortem organ donorship.

What happens if you die while traveling abroad? Is your body lost in transit, or are there ways to remain a valid donor to save someones life?



Best Answer

The German Federal Centre for Health Education offers donor cards in many languages specifically for this purpose. They do warn that the local rules apply by default (Grundsätzlich gilt immer die Regelung des jeweiligen Landes) but they claim the card would generally be honored.

Beyond the implementation details (opt-in, opt-out, central register or not, etc.) the rules generally give a strong weight to the wishes of the deceased. It does therefore make sense that carrying a document expressing those wishes unambiguously in the local language would make it more likely that your organs would be used following your instructions.




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How does organ donation work?




Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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