Burlingame, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/16/2009 -- A President Obama advisor's support for a policy of presumed consent for organ donation is raising questions. Under presumed consent, you are assumed to be an organ donor unless you fill out a government form saying you don't want to donate. Cass Sunstein, President Obama's nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, advocated presumed consent in a 2008 book.

"The United States is a whole lot closer to presumed consent than most people know," says Mark Ferraro, Senior Vice President of DoNotTransplant.com. "Most people think you're assumed not to be an organ donor unless you sign up to be one. That used to be true, but it's not true anymore."

Under the 2006 Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, an organ procurement organization (OPO) can assume you are an organ donor while they search for evidence of your true intentions. They can hook you up to artificial life support machines to keep your organs fresh, even if your advance healthcare directive says you don't want artificial life support. They can ask your family for permission to harvest your organs. They can ask a government bureaucrat for permission if they can't find your family. They can do all this even if the "organ donor" box on your driver's license is blank.

The 2006 UAGA has been enacted in 39 states and the District of Columbia, including eight of the ten largest states by population (California, Texas, New York, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina). Over 80% of the U.S. population lives in states that have enacted this law.

The 2006 UAGA stacks the deck against people who don't want to be organ donors. Unless your decision not to donate is documented in exactly the right way, OPO’s can ignore your decision and ask your family or a government official to overturn it.

State organ donor registries, which OPOs must search under the 2006 UAGA, are also biased against non-donors. "None of them, not a single one, will record your decision not to donate," adds Mr. Ferraro. "They literally won't take 'no' for an answer."

DoNotTransplant.com operates the only online donor registry that allows you to say "no" to organ donation in a way that will stand up under the 2006 UAGA. OPO’s are required under the law to check this registry. If they find your name in the registry, they're legally forbidden from harvesting your organs.

ABOUT DONOTTRANSPLANT.COM
DoNotTransplant.com is an internet-based service for those Americans who do not want to participate in organ and tissue donation procedures. Visitors to www.DoNotTransplant.com can purchase tools to notify family members, healthcare providers, and organ and tissue procurement organizations of their refusal to participate in the organ and tissue donation process. DoNotTransplant.com was launched on May 19, 2009.

CONTACT:
Mark Ferraro, 415/902-5347
mark@donottransplant.com