DISCUSS: The decision to donate is never only your own. By law, only a primary relative is authorized to consent for autopsy/organ donation on behalf of the deceased. The “primary relative” to the deceased is designated in the following order: Spouse, child, sibling. However, our experience has shown that the donor’s wishes are most likely honored if the issue of brain donation is broached and discussed among all family members concerned. Ideally, all or most of the family agrees to brain donation in advance. Try your best to determine your family members' views on brain donation and attempt to answer any questions about the autopsy or concerning how the tissue will be used. Contact us if you wish. If you feel your living relative who is unable to make decisions for him or herself would have agreed to donation in earlier years, then see if your view is shared by other family members.

ENROLL: Call Dr. Stopa, Brain BTRC's Director to request enrollment forms. He will explain the process for you in detail and answer any of your questions.

INFORM YOUR DOCTOR: Inform your doctor of your wish to donate or your wish (on behalf of your family member). Sign the “Authorization of Release of Medical Records” and give it to your provider for safekeeping in your chart. Make sure any subsequent provider is also kept informed. Continuity both for your wishes and in the charting of medical history are both essential to a successful donation. Please contact the Brown BTRC if you have any further questions.

PREPARE: Being prepared is knowing who to call when the time comes for brain donation. When the brain donor dies, family members contact the Brown BTRC as soon as the relative dies. Other phone numbers may be useful, and are included on the DONOR CALL LIST. Keep this list hand and up-to-date.

What to tell the doctors and nurses: Remind them that your family member is a brain donor and that you are authorizing the release of medical records to the Brown BTRC. Remind the doctor that a prior signed Authorization form may be in the chart. You may have to sign a second authorization to release the medical records of the last (or most recent) hospitalization.

Please CONTACT the Brown BTRC and we will answer your questions about enrollment and the process of brain donation.

Click clipboard to view the DONOR CALL LIST