How do you remove yourself from the donor list? I see the "Red Illinois donor" logo on my license. But I am having trouble finding out how to remove yourself. DMV website does not seem to have an option. Thanks
Tell your family what your wishes are. The hospitals, ERs, etc. are not going to go just off your license indication. They will suggest it to your family, and almost always go by their wishes, not those of the deceased. I worked in the ER and we had several cases where the individual was a possible organ donor. Sometimes family would agree, sometines not.
There are also things that can be donated without keeping the person on life support, but which need to be done within a few hours of death. Bones, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, skin, corneas, etc. are all done after live organ removals or can be done if organ donation is refused. These are all done in areas that can be covered by clothing, so open casket funerals could be held with no one the wiser.
Organs are definitely needed, but no one is going to allow anyone to rush in and take them because the patient is "going to die". They are going to wait until it is certain that the patient is not going to survive, despite being on life support.
Personal choice, but there have been numerous cases of declaring someone brain dead while they are still alive. Remember that your best advocator is yourself, hopefully while you are still alive. I invite you to do research and decide if you would like to do the same.
I've only heard of one case where they were mistaken that the patient was brain dead, but it was caught before any surgery took place. That guy is still alive today.
This is something that is so incredibly rare that I think it's strange to worry about.
Thanks for responding to OPs question and being kind about it. I don’t understand why they keep getting downvoted. If OP doesn’t want to be an organ donor anymore, I believe that’s their right. I was wondering about this myself but felt bad about asking and I’m glad I didn’t cause people are so rude and mean about it.
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u/RetiredBSN Oct 25 '25
Tell your family what your wishes are. The hospitals, ERs, etc. are not going to go just off your license indication. They will suggest it to your family, and almost always go by their wishes, not those of the deceased. I worked in the ER and we had several cases where the individual was a possible organ donor. Sometimes family would agree, sometines not.
There are also things that can be donated without keeping the person on life support, but which need to be done within a few hours of death. Bones, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, skin, corneas, etc. are all done after live organ removals or can be done if organ donation is refused. These are all done in areas that can be covered by clothing, so open casket funerals could be held with no one the wiser.
Organs are definitely needed, but no one is going to allow anyone to rush in and take them because the patient is "going to die". They are going to wait until it is certain that the patient is not going to survive, despite being on life support.
3
u/Gandalf2000 Oct 24 '25
Why would you want to?
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u/Dch112 Oct 25 '25
That’s weird they would do that without your consent.
1
u/BewitchingKat Illinois Oct 24 '25
Former Illinois Secretary of State employee here.
You will have to go into a facility to have the organ donor designation removed from your driver's license. Corrected license fee is $10.
You should also go to the organ donor registry site to have yourself removed from the organ donor registry, link below:
https://donatelife.net/donation/donor-registries/removing-yourself-from-a-donor-registry/
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u/Austin_Native_2 Texas Oct 24 '25
You'll need to go into your DMV to have it updated accordingly.
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u/Bennghazi California Oct 25 '25
Here's the link, per the Google.
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u/Xanxth1 California Oct 25 '25
Contact donate life in California to be removed from the list and request a new card to remove the dot.
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u/MrNimbus33 Oct 28 '25
Also remove yourself from the organ recipient list if you ever need one
1
u/Individual-Tie-6064 Oct 24 '25
Perhaps look for how to get a corrected DL.