Don't let myths and rumors keep you from saving lives. Learn the facts.
Myth: Doctors will not try to save my life if they know I want to be a donor.
Fact: If you are sick or injured and admitted to a hospital, the number one priority for clinicians is to save your life. The medical team trying to save lives is completely separate from the transplant team. Donation takes place only after all efforts to save your life have been exhausted and death has been declared.
Myth: People can recover from brain death.
Fact: People can recover from comas, but not brain death. Coma and brain death are not the same – coma is a state of deep unconsciousness; brain-death refers to irreversible brain damage and loss of brain function.
Myth: The rich and famous people on the waiting list for organs get preferential treatment.
Fact: When matching donor organs to recipients, HMC’s special organ transplantation selection committee has a system to assess issues such as the severity of illness, blood type, time spent waiting for an organ and other important medical information relevant to the recipient. The organ will go to the first person on the waiting list according to these criteria. The recipient's financial or social status or race are not amongst the deciding criteria.
Myth: I am too old to donate organs and tissues.
Fact: People of all ages may be organ and tissue donors. Physical condition, not age, is most important. Physicians will decide whether your organs and tissues can be transplanted at the time of death.
Myth: My family will be charged for donating my organs.
Fact: All donation procedures and hospital expenses are covered by the hospital.
Myth: Donation will disfigure my body.
Fact: A surgical procedure is used to recover donated organs and tissue. The body is always treated with great care and respect. Donation should not delay or change funeral arrangements. An open casket funeral is still possible, if that is the family’s wish.
Myth: Organs are sold, with enormous profits going to the medical community.
Fact: Qatari law prohibits the buying and selling of organs. Violators are punishable by prison sentences and fines.
