# Are my organs viable for donation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045 "2011-03-26T09:26:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/1 "2011-03-26T09:26:07Z")
The FDA and the Red Cross have determined that my blood is unfit to be used to save another person’s life, merely because of a loving and monogamous relationship with a member of my own gender. (That’s another issue, probably more suited to Great Debates, or the Pit.) I’m curious, is there the same restriction for organ donation? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/2 "2011-03-26T13:22:44Z")
I’ll be watching this thread, since my partner and I are in the same situation. The thing is . . . it says on our drivers licenses that we are both organ donors. I assume, if the time comes, our organs would be harvested without anybody asking about our sexual histories. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/3 "2011-03-26T13:47:13Z")
There is a case of HIV infection currently in the the news for a 2009 infection. [New York](http://blog.zfreal.com/news/healthy/kidney-transplant-recipient-infected-with-hiv-from-live-donor-procedure-needs-reviewing.html) There is a slightly older case from 2007 that toughened up organ donation procedures. [Chicago case and the results that went into effect Jan 10th, 2011](http://www.kxan.com/dpps/health/healthy_living/transplant-procedures-changed-do-to-hiv_3699378) ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/4 "2011-03-26T14:47:06Z")
MSM (men who have sex with men) are not eligible to donate bone marrow.[[1]](http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Med_Guidelines_Join/index.html#Men) ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/5 "2011-03-26T14:51:35Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’ll be watching this thread, since my partner and I are in the same situation. The thing is . . . it says on our drivers licenses that we are both organ donors. I assume, if the time comes, our organs would be harvested without anybody asking about our sexual histories. When I had my mother’s organs donated they did ask about sexual history. Not that I knew a whole lot about it. I don’t know if they asked about her being gay, but then again with her son sitting there they may have skipped those questions. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/6 "2011-03-26T17:47:15Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > When I had my mother’s organs donated they did ask about sexual history. Not that I knew a whole lot about it. I don’t know if they asked about her being gay, but then again with her son sitting there they may have skipped those questions. Lesbians (or “women who have sex with women”) aren’t disqualified from blood or bone marrow donations like gay men/MSM are. They wouldn’t have bothered asking if she’d ever had sex with another woman, but they might’ve asked if she’d has sex with a man who’d had sex with another man. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/7 "2011-03-26T18:53:56Z")
[medscape.com](http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/414107) > [@](#): > > There is no prohibition for a homosexual to be an organ donor per se. A person’s sexual orientation is only relevant if it might present a medical risk to the recipient. Therefore, the medical and social history of every potential organ donor must be carefully assessed to evaluate the potential risk of transmission of infection to the recipient. The transmission of an infection through a donor organ can result not only in the loss of the allograft, but also in the death of the immunosuppressed recipient. Therefore, despite the shortage of organ donors for organ transplantation, every donor regardless of sexual orientation must be evaluated thoroughly for the potential transmission of any infectious disease. [CDC](http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/msm/index.htm) > [@](#): > > Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM)1 represent approximately 2% of the US population, yet are the population most severely affected by HIV and are the only risk group in which new HIV infections have been increasing steadily since the early 1990s. In 2006, MSM accounted for more than half (53%) of all new HIV infections in the United States, and MSM with a history of injection drug use (MSM-IDU) accounted for an additional 4% of new infections. At the end of 2006, more than half (53%) of all people living with HIV in the United States were MSM or MSM-IDU. Since the beginning of the US epidemic, MSM have consistently represented the largest percentage of persons diagnosed with AIDS and persons with an AIDS diagnosis who have died. I know it sucks that the FDA and The Red Cross are passing up on a lot of good blood, and I know many people in the homosexual community are working hard to change things, but come on man, I doubt this is about who you choose to love. It looks to me that the value of donated organs can necessitate better testing especially if the docs have the time, like in the case of a person who is a vegetable or a living doner . ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/8 "2011-03-27T08:28:02Z")
I too am watching this thread with interest. Many people are ineligible to give blood for reasons other than sexual activity. For instance, I’m a virgin but I can’t give blood in the U.K., because I had a nasty disease in my youth. And because I lived through the BSE scare, many countries wouldn’t want my blood anyway. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/9 "2011-03-27T09:54:09Z")
Due to medications, I can’t donate either. (American BTW) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/10 "2011-03-27T12:10:21Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Due to medications, I can’t donate either. (American BTW) I was this way–I don’t know if I still am. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/11 "2011-03-27T20:29:13Z")
I was removed from the donor list once I was diagnosed with lymphoma. And had lots of poison pumped into my body to kill said lymphoma ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/12 "2011-03-27T23:29:05Z")
> [@TravisFromOR](#): > > The FDA and the Red Cross have determined that my blood is unfit to be used to save another person’s life, merely because of a loving and monogamous relationship with a member of my own gender. (That’s another issue, probably more suited to Great Debates, or the Pit.) I’m curious, is there the same restriction for organ donation? For the record, it’s only the FDA making that rule. The Red Cross disagrees with it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-organs-viable-for-donation/576045/13 "2011-03-28T00:32:08Z")
> [@](#): > > In 2006, MSM accounted for more than half (53%) of all new HIV infections in the United States, and MSM with a history of injection drug use (MSM-IDU) accounted for an additional 4% of new infections. I don’t get that… Wouldn’t MSM-IDU be a subset of MSM? So including MSM-IDU shouldn’t account for any additional infections, since you’re already accounting for those folks in the MSM group.