Halachic Organ donor Society, 3926 W. Touhy Ave, Suite #365, Lincolnwood, IL, 60712-1028. Phone: 646-599-3895, Email: office@hods.org

Frequently Asked Question

about
the Halachic Organ Donor (HOD) Society

1. What is the HOD Society?

2. What does the HOD Society offer?

3. Does the HOD Society issue piskei halacha (religious rulings)?

4. Does the HOD Society take a position on brain-stem death?

5. Is being on dialysis a life-threatening situation?

6. Has the HOD Society saved any lives?

7. Does the HOD Society help only Jews?

8. Can the HOD Society help me get an organ?

9.   Can one have a proper tahara (ritual washing) upon death if the person was an organ donor?

10. Is the HOD Society active in America only?

11. How does the HOD Society support itself?

12. Is the HOD Society a recognized non-profit organization?

13.  What is the first step I can take to help this cause?

14.  Should I get a HODS donor card if I live in Israel?

15.  How do I find out if I am eligible to be a living kidney donor?

16.  How do I become an organ donor?

17.  What is the difference between holding a HODS organ donor card and checking the box on my driver’s license for organ donation?

18. When I sign up for a HOD Society organ donor card, will my name be added to a database of potential donors?

19.  Is there an upper age limit for organ donation?

20. What about news reports of a comatose patient or a brain-stem dead patient waking up right before the doctors were about to remove his or her organs?

21.  What tests do I need to take to determine if I could donate a kidney?

22.  What tests do I need to take to see if I would be eligible to receive a kidney?

23.  What are financial donations that are given to HODS used for?

1.  What is the HOD Society?

The HOD Society is a non-profit organization that educates Jews around the world about halachic support for organ donation from Jews to the general public (Jews and non-Jews alike).   

2. What does the HOD Society offer?

 

The HOD Society offers school lectures, one-day regional seminars, Shabbat Scholar-in-Residence programs, printed materials, video testimonials, and family consultations with rabbis and or doctors.

3. Does the HOD Society issue piskei halacha (religious rulings)?

 

No.  The HOD Society recognizes the plurality of halachic positions concerning organ donation and determining the moment of death.  Therefore, it offers a unique organ donor card that allows people to choose between different halachic options.

4. Does the HOD Society take a position on brain-stem death?

While the HOD Society recognizes brain death as Halachic death (which is why we offer it as an option on our card), it also recognizes this issue as a rabbinic debate and thus offers two different options of defining death on its organ donor card.  Ultimately, individuals should learn the issues themselves and consult with their Rabbi.

5.  Is being on dialysis a life-threatening situation?

Yes.  Nephrologist Benjamin Hippen notes in the scientific journal New Atlantis, “Life on dialysis is a fragile, vulnerable existence.”   Far too often, things do not go well, and people on dialysis are unable to work, experience multiple complications, and die.

The latest United States Renal Dialysis Statistics on life expectancy on dialysis (http://www.usrds.org/2009/ref/H_Ref_09.pdf) show that people live 14 more years after receiving a transplanted kidney then if they would have stayed on dialysis.

6.Has the HOD Society saved any lives?

Yes.  The HOD Society has helped to save more than two hundred people who need a donated organ.  Some organ donations were directly enabled by the HOD Society, such as in the pairing of altruistic, live kidney donor Eric Swim of the U.S. with ten year-old recipient Moshiko Sharon of Israel.  Other donations occurred when the HOD Society was called by a family to come to the hospital to consult, and as a result of the consultation the decision to donate was made.

Indirectly, people have made decisions to donate organs of a loved one based partly on initial exposure to the topic by reading the HODS website, HODS printed material, hearing a HODS lecture, or seeing a HODS advertisement with our list of over 200 Rabbiswho have HOD Society organ donor cards. This introduction to the topic raised these people’s awareness and spurred them to consult with their Rabbi. 

7.  Does the HOD Society help only Jews?

No. The HOD Society encourages organ donation from Jews to all of humanity.

8. Can the HOD Society help me get an organ?

Not directly.  The HOD Society has, in the past, directly paired altruistic live kidney donors with recipients, but its main mission is to save lives by increasing organ donation from Jews and donating them to the general public (i.e. whoever is next on the list.)  

9. Can one have a proper tahara (ritual washing) upon death if the person was an organ donor?

The treatment of the deceased according to Jewish law includes rehitzah (practical washing), taharah (ritual pouring of water), and halbashah (dressing the corpse in a white shroud).  Sometimes the physical state of the body after a car accident, open chest surgery, or donation of certain organs may limit or even preclude application of these rituals.  According to Jewish law, observance of these rituals is not more important than saving someone’s life through organ donation.   

10.Is the HOD Society active in America only?

No, the HOD Society is active in Israel and America and has delivered lectures in many countries such as South Africa, England, Greece, Italy, Poland, Germany, and more.   

11. How does the HOD Society support itself?

The HOD Society supports itself through charitable donations and receiving contributions for lectures.  It is a recognized charitable organization in the U.S.A. but not in Israel.  

12. Is the HOD Society a recognized non-profit organization?

Yes, the HOD Society has 501(c)3 status, and financial donations are tax-deductible. In Israel it is not a recognized non-profit organization.  The reason for this is because the Israeli tax authorities require that a certain amount of money be raised in Israel in order to keep the non-profit status and, for diverse reasons, most of the money raised to support HODS comes from the USA.  

13. What is the first step I can take to help this cause?

Ask your Rabbi to get an organ donor card and lecture about the issue. Arrange for a HOD speaker to speak in your local community center, synagogue or school.  

14. Should I apply for a HODS donor card if I live in Israel?

No.  If you live in Israel, you should apply for an ADI card, Israel’s organ donor card.  For more information about ADI, click here.  To apply for an ADI card, click here.  

15. How do I find out if I am eligible to be a living kidney donor?

There are a series of medical tests that you must undergo before being declared eligible to donate a kidney.   Click here for a list of those tests in both English and Hebrew.    (As PDF documents, these lists might take a few seconds to load.  Please be patient.)  For additional information on living kidney donors, click here

16. How do I become an organ donor?

The majority of states in the United States recommend that people enroll in their state organ donor registries.  You can do this online by visiting www.donatelife.net and choosing the state you live in through the drop-down menu or, alternatively, by registering at your local Department of Motor Vehicles office.  You can also get an organ donor card from the Halachic Organ Donor Society by clicking here.  It is important to note that there isn’t a universal method of enrollment across the nation and laws that oversee donation vary from state to state.  Please inform your immediate family of your wishes to be an organ donor by calling or e-mailing them right now!  Families who don’t know their loved one’s wishes can undergo additional stress and confusion at a time of sudden loss and grief.

17.  What is the difference between holding a HODS organ donor card and checking the box on my driver’s license for organ donation?

– While one may indicate organ donation on one’s driver’s license in the United States, the HODS organ donor card has language that is more in-line with halacha. It specifically states, “All preparations for transplant must be done in consultation with my family-appointed rabbi. All medical procedures must be done with the utmost care, respect, and minimum damage to the cadaver.”

– And in every case where HODS gets involved, we supply a consultation with a rabbi to make sure everything is done appropriately.

– Your driver’s license does not include a telephone contact number in case of an emergency. If you are unconscious and they find the HODS card in your wallet, they will know to call the people you have listed on your HODS card as your emergency contacts.

– If you sign the State Registery for organ donation, some States, such as in NY State, understand this consent to mean you agree to have your organs donated for scientific research. Most (but not all) Orthodox rabbis do not approve of that.

Ultimately, it is most important to tell your immediate family of your wishes to be an organ donor so they are aware of your decision.   

18. When I sign up for a HOD Society organ donor card, will my name be added to a database of potential donors?

Hospitals do not maintain an organ donor database. Once hospital personnel do everything they can to save your life but in spite of their efforts they can’t get you to “wake up” and you look dead and you act dead and you are unconscious and you are not in coma and you are on a ventilator that is doing 100% of the breathing for you, your attending doctors suspect that you are brain dead.
Then, to get an expert opinion, two, not one, but two different independent neurologists are called in at separate times to perform a series of test on you. If both of them determine that you are brain dead, then, and only then, does the hospital contact the transplant community. And even after making that call, the doctors do not know if you are a registered member.
A transplant coordinator is contacted and the first thing he or she does is check your medical chart to make sure that brain death was diagnosed following proper protocol according to the law. If not, they have to retest the person. If yes, then the transplant coordinator meets with your family to discuss the possibility of organ donation.  Only if your family agrees do they begin the process.  That is why is is very important that your family be familiar with your wishes. 

19.  Is there an upper age limit for organ donation?

There is no age limit; organ condition, not age, determines its viability.  The oldest documented donor was 104 (cornea).  A 92-year-old woman in London, Ont., successfully donated her liver.

20. What about news reports of a comatose patient or a brain-stem dead patient waking up right before the doctors were about to remove his or her organs?

First, newspapers love to be sensationalist, they often get facts wrong, and readers don’t read articles carefully.

Second, concerning a person in a coma: the medical and legal establishment in almost every country in the world understands that a comatose patient is alive. Any person who would remove organs from a comatose patient would be guilty of murder.  There can be a situation, however, where a person is in a coma from which there is no return (Persistent Vegetative State – PVS) and the family decides to remove the ventilator. Subsequent and consequent to the removal of the ventilator, the patient’s heart stops and then organs can be legally recovered.

Thirdly, concerning a brain-stem dead patient/corpse: all reports of a person being brain-stem dead and suddenly waking up have never been substantiated.  It has never been documented. The brain-stem contains the center of human consciousness and when it dies from lack of oxygen its cells begin to irreversibly liquefy (a process called lysis).  When a heart stops beating, on the other hand, it just sits there and you can perhaps restart it.  Not so with brain cells.  Their death is irreversible.

Lastly, concerning a misdiagnosis of brain-stem death: there has not been one documented case where both clinical bed-side testing (apnea test, cold cholorics, dolls eyes, etc) and confirmatory blood-flow testing (where the blood is shown not to reach the cranium) were performed and showed brain-stem death where the patient/corpse woke up. Moreover, the very first thing a transplant coordinator does upon arrival to the hospital is to check the medical chart to make sure hospital protocol was followed in the diagnosis of brain-stem death. Not every hospital requires confirmatory blood flow testing.  The Halachic Organ Donor Society does require that confirmatory blood flow testing is done prior to a decision of brain-stem death. 

21.  What tests do I need to take to determine if I could donate a kidney?

The following download indicates which tests you must undergo to see if you are eligible to be a live kidney donor:  English Hebrew  For more information, go to our web page on Living Kidney Donors

22.  What tests do I need to take to see if I would be eligible to receive a kidney?

The following downloads tells you what tests you would require to determine your potential as a kidney recipient.  English Hebrew.   For more information, go to our web page on Living Kidney Donors. 

23. What are financial donations that are given to HODS used for?

The HOD Society is both an educational organization and an advocacy group.  Our activities that need to be funded are:
1. Delivering Lectures
2. Writing and Publishing Articles
3. Creating and Publishing Advertisements
4. Creating and Publishing Brochures
5. Producing Educational Videos
6. Using Social Media to Raise Awareness About Halachic Support for Organ Donation
7. Producing Events to Raise Awareness (e.g. our annual 5 race)
8. Manufacturing and Distributing Organ Donor Cards
9. Managing the Database of Organ Donor Card Members and Financial Donors
10. Consulting to Families in the Hospital Who Are Not Sure If They Are Allowed to Donate
11. Recruiting Rabbis to Get Organ Donor Cards & Speak Out About It

 

HODS