Organ donations are lower among the Hispanic population, especially first and second generation Mexican-Americans, according to organ donation experts.
"We find that the Hispanic community tells us, 'My religion says not to donate,' and 'I can't have an open casket because the body will be damaged,'" Esmeralda Perez of the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance said in a statement to Reuters. "They feel that their loved one will be disfigured, or the person will not be able to get into heaven because their body will not be whole."
According to the alliance, only 31 percent of individuals who donated organs in Texas in 2010 were Hispanic.
Similar statistics are being reported from California, according to a report from Fox News. Though Hispanics are the largest ethnic group awaiting organ transplants in California, only 14 percent of Hispanic adults living in the state are registered as organ donors.
"Sometimes people think that to have a pink spot on their driver's license (the symbol that someone is an organ donor) means that if they have an accident not everything will be done to save them, which is absolutely not true. Everything possible is always done to save the life of the person and only when all efforts fail does the opportunity to donate arise," said Elena de la Cruz, spokesperson for the Done Vide California/Donate Life California organ and tissue donor registry. We've heard many horror stories in the movies, but it's not true. In the state of California, two doctors have to determine that brain death has occurred for donation to proceed."
According to Donate Life America, Arkansas and Montana are the national leaders in organ donation, each with 76 percent. Utah and Washington follow closely behind with 72 percent each.
