DOVER, Del.- Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is urging members of the world's biggest social network to share their organ-donor status on the site. The goal is to generate more donations and ease wait times for transplants. Starting May 1, users can add donor plans to their profile, just like they already note a hometown or a relationship status.
"I personally have it have it on my driver's license chances are if it is on face book then people will be able to see that and you never know what can come from that," said Warren Petri. He has been a organ donor for more than twenty-two years.
More than 114,000 people in the U.S. and millions more worldwide are waiting for life-saving heart, liver or kidney transplants, Facebook said. Many of them -- 18 a day on average -- die because there are not enough organs for transplant.
"Medical experts believe that broader awareness about organ donation could go a long way toward solving this crisis," Zuckerberg and Sandberg said on the blog. "By simply telling people that you're an organ donor, the power of sharing and connection can play an important role.
Facebook members can also update profile pages with a life event under a health and wellness section. Organ donor tops the list of potential status updates in the section, which also lets users add information about illness, weight loss, broken bones, and efforts to quit unhealthy habits.
"As often as people are on facebook they will be able to see that and decide if they want to give the gift of life," Petri said.
The Facebook tool works like this: Users go to their timelines, where under Life Event they will see a health and wellness section. You choose, 'I decided to be an organ donor' and your state or country you live in and you can add a story about how you decided to be an organ donor.
Medical privacy raises privacy concerns because medical information on Facebook is not protected by U.S. laws requiring doctors, educators and insurers to keep such personal data confidential.
