Article: Organ donation wishes not honored; Survey: Organizations will not remove organs if family members protest

CHICAGO (AP) - Deciding you want to donate your organs after death is no guarantee it will happen, especially if your relatives object.

A government survey of the nation's 61 organ procurement organizations found wide variations in how they decide whether to remove organs from the dead for transplant. Just 29 of the groups have an official policy on whether to follow the wishes of the deceased or of family members.

If a person had indicated in a living will or on a donor card that he wanted to be a donor but his survivors opposed it, only seven groups - 12 percent - said they would probably remove the organs.

Fifty-two of the groups surveyed - 85 percent - said they rarely have documentation ...

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