About Us

About Donate Life Maryland

Donate Life Maryland (DLM) is the state-authorized nonprofit organization responsible for managing the Maryland Donor Registry. Established in 2007, DLM works closely with the federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organizations serving Maryland, Infinite Legacy.  In addition to managing and operating the Maryland Donor Registry, DLM, in partnership with Infinite Legacy, helps spread the word about organ, eye and tissue donation and how to register as a donor in Maryland.

Our Mission:

Saving and enhancing lives by registering organ, eye and tissue donors.

Our Vision:

EVERY Marylander can make an educated decision about organ, eye and tissue donation and registering as a donor.

About the Maryland Donor Registry

The Maryland Donor Registry was launched in 2009. It securely and confidentially contains the names of people in Maryland who have registered indicating their desire to be organ, eye and tissue donor.

In Maryland, there are several ways a person can register as an organ, eye and tissue donor:

• At the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) when obtaining or renewing a driver’s license or state identification
• Through mail-in brochure
• Securely online anytime at www.DonateLifeMaryland.org. In addition to having a heart on your driver’s license, Donate Life Maryland also allows you to express your legal commitment to becoming an organ, eye and tissue donor securely online. The Registry ensures every effort will be made to honor your wishes when you die.
• No matter where you register, we encourage you to share your decision and support of organ, eye and tissue donation with your family and friends.

Registering as a Donor

When someone dies, an OPO (Infinite Legacy) determines medical suitability for donation. If donation is an option, a donation professional from the OPO will check the state registry to determine if the patient is a registered donor. After the doctor talks to the family about the patient’s death, a specially trained family services coordinator from Infinite Legacy discusses the option of organ, eye, and tissue donation with the family.

If the patient is a registered donor, Infinite Legacy will inform the family that their loved one decided while he or she was living to give the gift of life to someone in need.  This is referred to as “First-Person” authorization and the state of Maryland recognizes this as a legally binding decision. Therefore, Infinite Legacy and all hospitals are legally obligated to honor advance directives, including organ, eye, and tissue recovery decisions authorized by the patient.

If the patient is not registered on the registry, Infinite Legacy will inform the family that their loved one was not registered as a donor on the registry and the decision of donation falls to the family. Infinite Legacy will still discuss the option of organ, eye, and tissue donation with the family giving them time to ask questions and discuss as a family before they decide. Making this decision to donate is much easier when the family has already discussed organ, eye, and tissue donation at an earlier time and the family is aware of the deceased individual’s desire to be a donor even if they did not register their wishes on the Donate Life Maryland Registry.

Register Today and share your wishes with your family too!

Sign up today to become an organ, eye and tissue donor. Through your generous gifts, you can help as many as eight lives through organ donation, enhance another 75 through tissue donation, give the gift of renewed vision to two people and change the lives of millions through disease research and therapy.

Have Questions?