Death resulting from the cessation of heart function; an individual who suffers a cardiac death can donate tissues like bone and skin, but typically cannot donate organs.

Rules or policies, generally based on medical criteria, established by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) to guide and regulate organ allocation or distribution in the United States.

The total and permanent loss of all brain function; a medical and legal determination of death.

A person who is waiting for a transplant.

An individual whose tissues or organs are donated after his or her death. Such donations come from two sources: patients who have suffered brain death and patients whose hearts have irreversibly stopped beating. The latter group is referred to as nonheartbeating donors.

The act of giving one's organs or tissues to someone else.

The total number of actual donors divided by the total number of eligible donors.

A deceased or living donor who provides cells and/or tissue for transplantation in accordance with established medical criteria and procedures.

Written consent is obtained from the next-of-kin for deceased donors in South Carolina. All people who desire to become organ and tissue donors should inform their families so that their wishes may be fulfilled.

A living person who donates an organ for transplantation, such as a kidney or a segment of the lung, liver, pancreas, or intestine. Living donors may be blood relatives, emotionally related individuals, or altruistic strangers.