FAQs for Hospital Professionals

Contact Infinite Legacy at 800-923-1133:

For ventilated patients, call Infinite Legacy within 2 hours if any trigger is met to screen for organ donation potential:

• Prior to an anticipated family meeting to discuss end-of-life options or de-escalation of life-sustaining therapies (i.e. palliative care/hospice consults, DNR for purposes to not escalate care, etc.)
• GCS < 5

If Infinite Legacy is following a patient, call us back if:

• Brain death testing is planned
• End-of-life conversations are planned
• The patient becomes unstable

Please call within 60 minutes of cardiac time of death for ALL patients to screen for tissue donation.

Call anytime a family mentions donation

According to the HIPAA privacy rule, “a covered entity (hospitals) may use or disclose protected health information to organ procurement organizations (OPOs) or other entities engaged in the procurement, banking or transplantation of organs, eyes or tissue for the purpose of facilitating organ, eye or tissue donation.” This allows Infinite Legacy to access this protected health information for donors and potential donors without authorization for the purposes of determining medical suitability and facilitating deceased donation.

Any patient who is on a ventilator with a GCS of 5 or less for whom brain death testing is planned, and/or any patient for whom terminal extubation, DNR status or “allowing natural death” is being considered.

Any deceased patient may be eligible to donate tissues. Patients who cannot donate organs may still be able to donate corneas or other tissues. Please call in all deaths within 60 minutes.

Infinite Legacy is the federally designated organ and tissue recovery organization for the state of Maryland, Northern Virginia and Washington, DC.

Calling Infinite Legacy is the first step in the donation process. A timely call will preserve the option of donation by allowing us time to determine medical suitability, donor designation status and to develop a collaborative plan for discussing donation with the family if appropriate. Calling in a referral is required by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), The Joint Commission and your hospital policy.

Anyone from the healthcare team with access to the patient’s medical information can call Infinite Legacy. 

Our staff are experts in caring for families through the end-of-life decisions. They are healthcare professionals specially trained to discuss donation in a sensitive and culturally respectful manner. The hospital care team are experts in their respective fields and do all they can to save a patient’s life; the family may see discussing donation as a conflict of interest. We are two separate teams who come together when all lifesaving measures have been exhausted. When donation is an option, we will work in tandem to support the family through end-of-life decisions.

You can tell them that donation may be an option for their loved one and that you will contact Infinite Legacy to have them speak to the family about the donation process. We will ensure the family understands the options that are available to them. 

Contact Infinite Legacy at 800-923-1133 for any patient meeting the referral triggers and be sure to call Infinite Legacy back with any changes to the patient’s plan of care, code status and/or instability. Please also ensure the care team maintains the patient’s hemodynamic status in order for Infinite Legacy to complete an evaluation and speak to the family about donation, if appropriate. Maintaining good communication with Infinite Legacy will help to ensure donation remains an option the family can consider.