CA Law Forces DMV Organ Donor Answer

The California Department of Motor Vehicles now requires all driver's license and California ID card applicants to answer whether they want their organs donated or not.

100,000 people nationwide, who are currently waiting for donated organs, are waiting on the same answer, reportedly.

Previously, DMV applicants could ignore the organ donation question and their paperwork would still be processed.  Not anymore, according to the newest California state law.

In California, 28 percent of drivers donate their vital organs and tissues after death, which is below the national average of 40 percent.

The new law's adjustment to DMV forms is relatively minor, but it now forces drivers to take the question seriously and answer it if they want to legally drive in California.

One of the reasons why organ donation rates are lower in California is the nature of the state itself, where a multiracial, multilingual and multinational population makes residents feel less concerned about other Californians.

States with the highest percentage of organ donors are states where families have been there for generations, and where the population is English-speaking and understands what is being asked of them and why.

Many Californians are so stressed-out by waiting at the DMV to be processed by robotic state workers that they refuse to think about complex afterlife decisions in their exhaustion and frustration.

Demand for donated organs is increasing because many Americans are obese, alcoholic or drug-addicted and so many related illnesses result in complications that require organ transplants.

In many cases, however, innocent kids need an organ transplant to live, which is heartbreaking.

Perhaps the #1 reason why most do not grant permission to the state to harvest their organs is the belief that being a donor results in inferior care following an accident because someone wants to make money off their body parts.

To help Californians 'make up their minds', the State of California is demanding an answer to the uncomfortable organ donation "pink dot" question --- by law.

Unfortunately, upon being told that they will not get their driver's license, unless they make such a sensitive afterlife decision on-the-spot, many Californians might become defensive and angry enough to say no.

People are not going to like their right to drive being "held hostage" in such a manner.  It smacks of Big Brother to most independently-minded California residents.

In any society, it is difficult to legislate morality and altruism --- especially in California.

What will YOUR answer be to the state?