Refusal to make anatomical gift; effect of refusal · Maryland
Maryland: how to refuse organ donation
If you came here to get off the registry
Is removing the donor designation enough in Maryland?
Taking your name off the organ donor registry is a revocation. So is removing the designation from your driver’s license. Under Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 4-506, Maryland law treats a revocation and a refusal as two different things, and only the refusal settles it.
A revocation withdraws the gift you made. It does not stop anyone else from making the gift for you. Only a refusal does that, and Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 4-505 is the section that says so. It has to be signed.
Both provisions are quoted in full below, from Maryland’s own code.
What Maryland asks
What you need to make a refusal in Maryland
- Act
- 2006 revision
- Enforcement
- An unrevoked refusal bars all other persons from making the gift.
- Signing it yourself
- No witnesses required by the statute.
- If someone signs at your direction
- Two adults. At least one of the two must be a disinterested witness; the other may be anyone, including a family member.
- Notary
- Not required.
- Maryland law
- Md. Code, Est. & Trusts §§ 4-505, 4-506
- Statute read
- 2026-09-02
Refusal to make anatomical gift; effect of refusal · Preclusive effect of anatomical gift, amendment, or revocation
The statute itself
Quoted from Maryland’s enacted code, in full and unedited.
How a refusal is made (a)
An individual may refuse to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part by: (1) A record signed by: (i) The individual; or (ii) Subject to subsection (b) of this section, if the individual is physically unable to sign, another individual acting at the direction of the individual; (2) The individual's will, whether or not the will is admitted to probate or invalidated after the individual's death; or (3) During a terminal illness of the individual or while the individual is injured, any form of communication addressed to at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness.
Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 4-505
How it must be witnessed (b)
A record signed in accordance with subsection (a)(1)(ii) of this section shall: (1) Be witnessed by at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness, who have signed at the request of the individual; and (2) State that the record has been signed and witnessed as provided in item (1) of this subsection.
Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 4-505
What an unrevoked refusal does (d)
Except as otherwise provided in § 4-506(h) of this subtitle, in the absence of an express, contrary indication by the individual set forth in the refusal, an individual's unrevoked refusal to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part bars all other persons from making an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part.
Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 4-505
A revocation is not a refusal (b)
A donor's revocation of an anatomical gift of the donor's body or part under § 4-504 of this subtitle is not a refusal and does not bar another person specified in § 4-501 or § 4-507 of this subtitle from making an anatomical gift of the donor's body or part under § 4-503 or § 4-508 of this subtitle.
Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 4-506