Downloading a donor card does not add its holder to a database or make donation automatic. The card offered by Spain’s National Transplant Organisation (ONT) is a personal statement. It can be carried as evidence of a wish to donate organs and tissue after death, but no personal details are recorded and the card has no legal force.
That distinction matters when a hospital team needs to establish quickly what the person wanted. The ONT says the Advance Directives Register is checked first. If there is no registered declaration, the family and those close to the deceased are asked. Keeping a card without discussing the decision therefore leaves relatives with weaker evidence than they could have had.
Spain has presumed consent, but wishes are investigated
Spanish transplant law allows organs to be obtained from a deceased person who did not expressly object. This does not mean a hospital disregards individual wishes. Royal Decree 1723/2012 requires transplant coordinators to investigate whether the person told relatives or professionals, review any available clinical notes, and examine the documents and personal belongings carried by the deceased.
Clinical practice also includes an interview with the family. La Fe University Hospital says the family’s decision is respected on the understanding that it conveys the wishes of their relative. A conversation held beforehand removes uncertainty: the issue is not to persuade anyone during a crisis, but to have made a yes or no known in life.
What the card does — and does not do
The ONT card can be downloaded in JPG or PDF. It is not personalised by the organisation and creates no record that a hospital can look up. Testimonial cards may also be available from transplant coordination offices, patient information services, health centres and endorsed associations.
Its purpose is modest: to provide a visible sign of the decision and help ensure that the family knows about it. It does not replace an advance directive, which has legal effect and is entered in a register connected across Spain’s autonomous communities. Anyone seeking a formal record can include organ donation wishes in that document; this is a different process from obtaining the card.
Changing your mind does not require deregistration
Because the ONT card stores no data, there is no registration to cancel. A person who changes their mind can destroy the card. The essential steps are to tell family or close contacts and, if donation was included in a registered advance directive, amend or revoke that document through the relevant register.
The same clarity applies to an objection. The regulations require an express refusal to be respected, whether it covers all organs or only specified ones. A donor card is therefore neither an irrevocable contract nor advance permission to retrieve every organ.
Medical suitability is decided at the hospital
People should not rule themselves out because of age or a particular illness. The Valencian health authority says the medical team assesses organ function and transmission risks at the relevant time, then decides whether donation is possible and which organs may be used. Carrying a card does not guarantee that donation will ultimately take place.
This route concerns donation after death. Living organ donation has a separate procedure requiring adulthood, medical and psychological assessment, freedom from pressure or payment, an ethics report, express consent before a judge and treatment at an authorised centre.