Morgan County Coroner Urges Residents to Register as Organ Donors in April

Morgan County Coroner Marcy Patterson is calling on Jacksonville residents to register as organ, eye and tissue donors this month, adding a local voice to National Donate Life Month at a moment when more than 103,000 Americans are on the national transplant waiting list with no guarantee of a match in time.

Patterson's office, at 7 Dunlap Court in Jacksonville, issued the public notice April 2, directing residents toward the Illinois Secretary of State's donor registry and urging families to have the conversation about their wishes before a crisis forces it. The appeal carries weight beyond a routine awareness campaign: coroners in Illinois occupy a specific and legally consequential role in the donation process. When a death falls under the coroner's jurisdiction, as in cases of sudden or unattended death, Patterson's office works in coordination with organ procurement organizations to determine whether a deceased person's donor wishes can be carried out. Without a registry record, that determination depends entirely on family members who may be in shock and may not know what their loved one wanted.

Kidneys account for the largest share of the national backlog, with roughly 89,800 patients waiting as of late 2024, according to data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Livers, hearts and lungs account for thousands more. The disparity between available organs and waiting recipients is a persistent feature of the transplant system, and public registration rates in any given region directly affect how many organs become available locally.

Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, the primary hospital serving Morgan County, stands to see real patient-level consequences from local registration trends. Higher registration rates in the county translate into more potential donor matches for transplant candidates throughout the region.

Illinois residents can confirm or establish their donor status through the Secretary of State's online portal at LifeGoesOn.com, which maintains the state's confidential organ and tissue donor registry. Registration can also be completed in person at any Secretary of State driver's license facility across the state. Donate Life America, the national nonprofit behind the April awareness campaign, accepts registrations online as well and publishes family discussion guides for residents who are still weighing the decision.

Two concerns consistently delay registration in communities across Illinois. The first is a fear that medical staff will deprioritize a known donor's emergency care. In practice, the emergency team treating a patient has no connection to transplant teams and no access to donor registry information until after all life-saving efforts have been exhausted. The second is uncertainty about religious acceptability. Most major faith traditions, including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Islamic denominations, recognize organ donation as consistent with their teachings on the sanctity of life and the responsibility to care for others.

Patterson's office can be reached at (217) 245-7423. Residents ready to register can go directly to LifeGoesOn.com; it takes only a few minutes and requires no fee.