Ochsner Health is the leading nonprofit healthcare provider in the Gulf South. Ochsner inspires healthier lives and stronger communities through our mission to serve, heal, lead, educate and innovate.
Each registered organ donor can save up to 9 lives
Living organ donations at Ochsner
Living kidney and living liver donations offer a life-saving opportunity for patients in need of transplants. By donating a kidney or a portion of your liver, you can give someone a second chance at life. Both organs regenerate over time for the donor. Ochsner’s Living Donor Programs reduce wait times and improve outcomes for transplant recipients, helping them receive a timely transplant from a healthy, living donor.
Living Donor Kidney Transplants Living Donor Liver Transplants
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Pediatric life-saving liver transplant
Learn how a liver transplant gave a 5-year-old a new lease on life.
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A day in the life of a living organ donor liver transplant surgery
This behind-the-scenes look in the operating room at Ochsner Medical Center – New Orleans provides a firsthand account of a rare, pediatric living organ donor transplant surgery, where a father gave part of his liver to his daughter.
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Our team
Watch to learn the work that inspires our Ochsner Transplant Institute team and their approach to patient care.
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How a liver transplant saved a child’s life
At age 2, Liam needed a liver transplant to survive. Throughout the entire process, his mother documented Liam's journey with photos and videos. Six years later, Amy shows Liam her photo album while telling him the story of how Ochsner saved his life.
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Ochsner heart transplant patient finds his road to recovery
Mark N. was living a healthy and active lifestyle when he suddenly experienced heart failure. After gaining nearly 50 pounds of water weight and with his heart failing, Mark was transferred to Ochsner to receive a life-saving heart transplant.
Learn the facts about organ donation
Organ donation saves lives, and it’s an opportunity to make a profound difference. Here’s what you need to know:
- Anyone can register to become an organ donor: Regardless of age or medical history, you can sign up to be a donor. Medical professionals evaluate donation possibilities at the time of death, and only a few conditions, such as active cancer or a systemic infection, may prevent donation.
- Organ donation has no age limit: The oldest recorded donor in the U.S. was 93 years old. The health and condition of your organs at the time of death are what matters most.
- Religious support: Most major religions in the U.S. encourage organ donation as an act of compassion and generosity.
- Life-saving care comes first: Medical teams prioritize saving your life above all else. Organ donation is only considered after all life-saving efforts have been exhausted.
- Fair and equitable matching: Organ allocation is determined by a national system based on factors like blood type, medical urgency and geographic location; not wealth, fame or social status.
- Open casket funerals are possible: Donors are treated with the utmost respect, allowing for open casket funerals in most cases.
- No costs to families: Organ donation incurs no cost to donors or their families.
- Protected from exploitation: Federal laws strictly prohibit the buying or selling of organs in the United States. Violations carry severe penalties.
- Organ donation typically occurs after brain death, a condition that is final and irreversible: This differs from a coma, from which recovery is sometimes possible.
- Inclusive for all communities: Members of the LGBT community are eligible to donate organs. What matters is the health of the organs, not a donor’s background.
You can help save and enhance the lives of transplant patients
Your gift makes a difference
Choose to purchase a meal, help with transportation, medication expenses and more through the Gregory Smith Transplant Fund. The Gregory Smith Transplant Fund helps transplant patients with meals, transportation, medication expenses and more. Support our patients by donating to this fund today.
