Dear Mr. Premack: I am interested in becoming an organ donor, but am confused by several things I’ve heard. One friend told me I can just put it on my driver’s license and another said it should be in my Will. One person I talked to said that it isn’t worth signing up to be a donor because the family can just nix the donation after I die. What is the law on this and what is the best approach to being sure my wish to be an organ donor is honored? – H.R.

Texas law on organ donation has evolved over the last several decades. Until late 1997 it was legal to declare your intent to become a donor on the back of your driver’s license. Since then, there are three legally valid ways to become an organ donor:

1. Place a statement about donation into your Last Will and Testament. According to Texas law, an organ donation made in your Will is effective even if the Will has not been admitted to probate. Even if the Will is later declared to be invalid by a court, the organ donation remains legally valid so long as it was acted on in good faith. This is not the favored method, since the Will is often ignored until after the funeral.

2. Create a separate written declaration of your intent to become a donor. It can be in the format of a card you carry on your person or on standard size paper. The declaration must be signed by the donor and by two witnesses who are actually present at the moment you sign the declaration. If you are physically unable to sign, another person may sign the declaration for you at your direction and in the presence of you and the two witnesses.

Legally, you or your attorney can create the written declaration of anatomical gift. The problem is, of course, that only those you inform of the gift will know of your intent; the declaration is, under these circumstances, entirely private. Again, this method is legal but is not the most favored approach.

3. The best approach is to register as a donor in person at a local DPS office, or by mail, fax or online. Online registration is fairly new, and happens through a website run by the "Glenda Dawson Donate Life - Texas Registry" operated by the Texas Dept of State Health Services.

According to the Registry, there are four steps to becoming a registered donor online. First, you fill out the online registration form at www.donatelifetexas.org. Second, you receive a confirmation letter and registration card within 10 business days. You and two witnesses must sign the letter. Third, you return the signed, witnessed letter to the Registry in the postage-paid envelope they provide. Keep the registration card and carry it with you.

Finally, you inform your family that you have become a donor. State law is clear that when you register by filing a signed and witnessed declaration, your donation "shall be honored without obtaining the approval or consent of any other person." When a person has not signed a donor declaration but dies under circumstances that allow donation, the family will be asked for permission. If family knows of and supports your intentions they are more likely to react sympathetically at the time of your death.

The federal government has arranged for "organ procurement organizations" (called OPOs) in all the states. Texas has three OPOs because of its size, and in this area the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance is responsible. On their website (www.txorgansharing.org) they list several facts about donation:

• All mainstream organized religions approve of organ and tissue donation and consider it an act of charity.
• Donation costs nothing to the donor’s family or estate.
• As many as 85 people can benefit from one tissue donor.