Every day, in France, two to three people die because they did not receive an organ transplant. We may all need it one day.
It is a taboo subject or a choice that loved ones are sometimes not ready to accept. In France, we are all organ donors by default unless we are registered on the national refusal register. However, in practice, relatives are always consulted before any collection. It is therefore important to share our wish for the living, to say that “yes” or “no”, we want to donate our organs in the event of death. Currently, 23,294 patients are waiting for a transplant, according to a press release sent by the Biomedicine Agency on the occasion of National Organ Donor Day on June 22. A single donor can save seven people. What organs can be donated? All ?
No. A person can donate six organs: lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, intestines. Seven tissues can also be collected: corneas, valves, skin, tendons, bones, veins and arteries, ligaments. The most transplanted organ in France is the kidney, with 3,867 transplants (including 603 living ones). The second most transplanted organ is the liver, with 1,431 transplants (including 11 living ones). It is important to know that the body of the deceased is respected during organ donation. As the Biomedicine Agency reminds us, “the removal is a surgical procedure carried out in the operating room. The body is then restored – incisions closed, dressings applied – and returned to the family”. Each transplant is assigned according to strict medical criteria. The patient whose condition is the most urgent is given priority.
Do your loved ones know your wishes?
There are no age limits for donating organs. “We can donate after 80 years: it is the condition of the organs that is evaluated, not the age of the donor” explains the Biomedicine Agency. “We can all, whatever our age and whatever our state of health, donate one or more organs, just as we can all need a transplant one day” underlines Marine Jeantet, general director of the agency. No documents are necessary. There is no donor card. “It’s the words passed on to your loved ones that count” insists the Biomedicine Agency, which asks the French to ask themselves just one question: “Do my loved ones know my wishes?
for organ donation?
1,590 people donated their organs in 2025, and thus offered a second chance to thousands of patients, by enabling 6,148 transplants. On the other hand, 966 patients died while on the waiting list.
