Utah Organ Donation and Your Advance Directive

You checked the organ donor box on your Utah driver's license renewal. You assumed that was enough. But when a patient is at or near death, the hospital refers the case to a procurement organization, which checks Department of Public Safety records and donor registries, reviews medical records, and looks for a controlling donation record. If your directive says nothing about donation and there is no other controlling donor record, Utah's statutory priority list determines who can authorize a gift, which can create confusion and delay.

Documenting organ donation preferences in your advance directive creates a clear, legally binding record alongside any driver's license or registry designation and lets you state exclusions or purposes for the gift.

What Utah Law Allows

Under the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (Utah Code Title 26B, Chapter 8, Part 3), any competent adult can make an anatomical gift — organs, tissues, or the entire body — for transplantation, therapy, research, or education.

You can authorize donation through multiple mechanisms:

• Your advance health care directive
• Your Utah driver's license or state ID (the donor heart symbol)
• A donor card or other written document
• The national organ donor registry (registerme.org)

Any single authorization is legally sufficient. But documenting your wishes in your advance directive provides the most comprehensive record because it can specify exactly what you want donated and under what conditions.

How to Document Donation in Your Directive

The Utah statutory advance directive form (Utah Code § 75A-9-110) includes a section for organ and tissue donation preferences. It lets you specify:

Full donation. All medically suitable organs, tissues, and other body parts, with any exclusions you list. You can also specify whether the gift is for transplantation, therapy, research, education, or all of these purposes.

Limited donation. Specific organs or tissues only — for example, corneas and kidneys but not heart or liver. Or donation for transplantation only, not research.

No donation. An unrevoked refusal bars other people from making an anatomical gift of your body or parts under Utah law.

Whole-body donation. Donation of your entire body to a medical school or research institution is a separate arrangement. The University of Utah School of Medicine's Body Donor Program uses its own body-donor forms; its FAQ says organ donation other than skin and eyes may make a body unusable for study, so confirm the program's acceptance requirements rather than assuming both plans can be carried out.

Healthcare Agent Authority Over Donation

Under Utah's anatomical-gift law, a healthcare agent can have authority to make a post-death anatomical gift unless the power of attorney or other record prohibits it. This is important when your donation preferences are not explicitly documented or when the medical situation creates options you did not anticipate.

If you have not specified donation preferences in your directive and have not registered as a donor, your healthcare agent has first priority if authorized and reasonably available; otherwise, Utah's statutory priority hierarchy applies. This is where family conflicts arise most often.

The cleanest approach: document your donation preferences explicitly in the directive so your agent does not have to guess or negotiate with other family members.

LDS Church Policy on Organ Donation

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints views organ donation as a "noble act of personal charity and sacrifice." The decision is left entirely to the individual's moral agency — the Church does not mandate donation, but it does not discourage it.

For LDS families, this means:

• Authorizing organ donation in your advance directive is consistent with Church teaching
• The decision is personal and left to the individual's agency and choice
• Family discussions about donation should focus on the individual's wishes, not assumptions about Church policy

How Hospitals Handle Donation

When a patient is at or near death in a Utah hospital, the hospital refers the case to a procurement organization, which follows a specific protocol:

1. Registry check. The procurement organization checks the Department of Public Safety records and any donor registry it knows exists, including the Utah Donor Registry or the national registry.

2. Medical record review. The procurement organization may examine the patient's medical and dental records, including any advance-directive documentation of donation preferences.

3. Family and priority-person contact. If no controlling gift or refusal exists, the procurement organization looks for people in Utah's statutory priority order who may authorize a gift. A valid gift or refusal made by the individual generally controls; family members do not override it merely because they disagree.

4. Medical suitability. Not every registered donor can donate every organ. The transplant team evaluates which organs and tissues are medically suitable based on the patient's condition, medical history, and cause of death.

Having your preferences documented in your advance directive — in addition to any driver's-license or registry designation — gives the hospital and procurement organization a clear legal record of any limitations or purposes you selected.

The Utah Advance Directive & Living Will Kit includes guidance on documenting organ donation preferences alongside your treatment instructions and healthcare agent designation.

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