The Partnership for Organ Donation			
HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Foreword

As this report goes to print, more than 30,000 people are on 
a national waiting list for an organ transplant. Seven of 
those people will die today, without receiving the vital 
organs they need. Another person joins the waiting list 
every twenty minutes, and at current rates the waiting list 
will grow to 50,000 people by 1995.

The potential exists to solve the organ donor shortage. As 
you will read in the following pages, Americans 
overwhelmingly support organ donation for transplantation. 
The majority indicate that they would be willing to donate 
their own organs upon death, and nearly all would honor the 
request of a family member who wished to become an organ 
donor.

This report summarizes the largest survey ever conducted on 
public attitudes towards organ donation and transplantation. 
The survey, conducted by The Gallup Organization, provided 
the foundation for a conference held in Boston on March 
25-26,1993, co-hosted by The Partnership for Organ Donation 
and the Harvard School of Public Health. Experts from 
throughout the donation and transplantation communities 
gathered to explore the implications of the findings for 
public and professional education.

We are making the survey results available to enable 
researchers, educators, and practitioners to better 
understand the issues and attitudes underlying the organ 
donor shortage. This information can provide insight into 
the informational needs of families faced with the option of 
donation, and can contribute to the design of effective 
public and professional education programs.

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Last modified: 11 May 2000