Refusal to make anatomical gift; effect of refusal · Oregon
Oregon: how to refuse organ donation
If you came here to get off the registry
Is removing the donor designation enough in Oregon?
Taking your name off the organ donor registry is a revocation. So is removing the designation from your driver’s license. Under Or. Rev. Stat. § 97.963, Oregon 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 Or. Rev. Stat. § 97.961 is the section that says so. It has to be signed.
Both provisions are quoted in full below, from Oregon’s own code.
What Oregon asks
What you need to make a refusal in Oregon
- 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.
- Oregon law
- Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 97.961, 97.963
- Statute read
- 2026-09-02
Refusal to make anatomical gift; effect of refusal · Effect of making, amending or revoking anatomical gift
The statute itself
Quoted from Oregon’s enacted code, in full and unedited.
How a refusal is made (1)
An individual may refuse to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or body part by: (a) A record signed by: (A) The individual; or (B) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, another individual acting at the direction of the individual if the individual is physically unable to sign; (b) The individual's will, whether or not the will is admitted to probate or invalidated after the individual's death; or (c) Any form of communication made by the individual during the individual's terminal illness or injury addressed to at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness.
Or. Rev. Stat. § 97.961
How it must be witnessed (2)
A record signed under subsection (1)(a)(B) of this section must: (a) 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 (b) State that it has been signed and witnessed as provided in this subsection.
Or. Rev. Stat. § 97.961
What an unrevoked refusal does (4)
Except as otherwise provided in subsection (5) of this section, 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 body part prohibits all other persons from making an anatomical gift of the individual's body or body part.
Or. Rev. Stat. § 97.961
A revocation is not a refusal (2)
A donor's revocation of an anatomical gift of the donor's body or body part under ORS 97.959 is not a refusal and does not prohibit another person specified in ORS 97.955 or 97.965 from making an anatomical gift of the donor's body or body part under ORS 97.957 or 97.967.
Or. Rev. Stat. § 97.963