A new Web site, www.save7lives.org, allows residents to sign up online to be an organ and tissue donor in Virginia. The system was launched Sept. 3.
The site is expected to increase the number of registered donors by 10 percent. The system also allows transplant professionals the ability to directly access a person's status as a potential donor rather than by calling the state police to see if a person registered through the Department of Motor Vehicles, as is the practice now. Only transplant professionals will have access to the information.
With the cooperation of the DMV, people who had designated themselves as potential donors on their driver's licenses have already been included into the system, and the DMV will continue to regularly update the information. Those who wish to join the system will be able to update their information, specify donation wishes and change their decision.