Organ Donation and the North Carolina DMV

The North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) is partnered with Donate Life NC to maintain the only online database of registered organ donors. By law, all hospitals in North Carolina must notify the appropriate organ, tissue and eye recovery agencies when a person has died or when death is imminent. After receiving the notification, personnel from the recovery agencies will check the online donor registry maintained by the DMV and Donate Life NC to determine if a person has registered as an organ donor.

However, if you file a Declaration of an Anatomical Gift in our Registry, your information will not be accessible through the DMV or Donate Life NC’s online donor registry and the recovery agencies will not have access to your organ donor information unless you personally provide it to them.

Therefore, if you file a directive for organ donation in our Registry, we recommend you also file as an organ donor with Donate Life NC or the DMV. For more information on organ donation, contact Donate Life NC at 919-213-1069. You also can contact the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles at 919-715-7000.

Like all other directives that you file in our Registry, we recommend you advise your family, health care agent and doctor that you have filed a Declaration of an Anatomical Gift.