Can I Include Organ Donation in Advance Directives?

Many people assume their living will is where they record their wish to be an organ donor. In Washington, organ donation is handled by its own body of law, and understanding how it connects to your health care directive helps make sure both wishes are honored the way you intend.

For related help, see estate-planning help, power-of-attorney guide, and Washington probate guide.

Organ Donation Has Its Own Statute

The gift of your organs or tissue is governed by Washington's version of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, chapter 68.64 RCW. This is a separate legal framework from the Natural Death Act that governs health care directives. It sets out who may make an anatomical gift, how a gift can be documented, and how those wishes are carried out. Because it is its own statute, organ donation is not something a living will "contains" so much as something that runs alongside your other planning documents.

Under RCW 68.64.030, an adult may make an anatomical gift of their body or a part of it during life. The same section allows certain others to make a gift as well, including an agent named in your power of attorney, unless your power of attorney or another record specifically prohibits the agent from doing so, a parent of a minor, or your guardian. So the law gives you the ability to decide for yourself, and it also lets a trusted decision-maker act consistently with your wishes if you cannot.

How You Record the Wish

The most familiar way Washington residents document their choice is through the state donor registry. When you check the box at the Department of Licensing and receive the heart symbol on your driver's license or state ID, you are making a legally recognized anatomical gift. That registration is the primary, front-line record that hospitals and organ procurement organizations look to, and it stays in effect until you change it.

You are not limited to the license, though. An anatomical gift can also be made in other records, and many people choose to state their donation wishes in their estate planning documents as well, so that the intent is clear and consistent across everything. A donor card, an entry in the registry, and a statement in your planning documents can all reinforce the same choice. The value of putting it in more than one place is simple: it reduces the chance that your family will be left uncertain at a moment when time matters.

Why It Interacts With, But Stays Separate From, Your Directive

Here is where people often get tangled up. Your health care directive under the Natural Death Act deals with withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment when you are in a terminal or permanent unconscious condition. Organ donation, by its nature, involves a different sequence of events and a different set of medical professionals, and it is authorized under a different statute entirely.

These two things interact in practice. The timing and manner of end-of-life care can affect whether and how a donation proceeds, which is why it is worth making sure your directive and your donation wishes do not appear to contradict each other. A thoughtfully drafted plan can note that you wish to be a donor and that your care team should take reasonable steps to allow donation to occur consistently with your directive. But keeping the two conceptually separate matters, because the directive is not the legal instrument that makes the gift. The gift is made under chapter 68.64 RCW, through your registration or another qualifying record.

Naming an Agent Who Understands Your Wishes

Because RCW 68.64.030 allows the agent under your power of attorney to make an anatomical gift unless you have prohibited it, the person you name as your health care agent should know how you feel about donation. If donation is important to you, you can make sure your power of attorney does not restrict your agent from honoring it, and you can talk with that person directly. If you would prefer that donation not occur, you can document that too. The point is that your agent is positioned to speak for you, so your agent should not have to guess.

A Snohomish County Perspective

For families across Snohomish County, from Everett to Stanwood, planning for organ donation is often part of a larger conversation about legacy and about sparing loved ones from difficult, uncertain decisions during grief. Estate planning is not only about property. It is about making your intentions clear on the things that matter most to you, including whether you want to give the gift of life to someone else. When your donation wishes, your directive, and your power of attorney all point the same direction, your family can act with confidence instead of confusion.

If you would like help making sure your organ donation wishes are clearly recorded and consistent with the rest of your plan, the Law Office of Chad Foster is here to help you put it all together. Reach out whenever you are ready to talk it through.