As of July of 2009, New Jersey residents will be able to go online and designate themselves organ donors through a new Motor Vehicle Commission (“MVC”) website, which will be established under the “New Jersey Hero Act” (S-755). Initially, the MVC will establish a Donate Life NJ Registry, which will record only the choices of would-be organ donors.
Starting in 2013, everyone renewing licenses or getting new IDs from the State must either declare themselves organ donors or review state-supplied educational material about “the life-saving potential of organ and tissue donation.”
Another important part of this act is that starting in the 2009-10 school year, all public high schools have included organ donation information in their health and physical education classes.
The information presented in this article is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship with Bourne, Noll & Kenyon.