Organ donations have reached a record high in Australia with 337 Aussies who have died in 2011 donating their organs that saved more than a thousand lives. With the country's donor rate still very low, what are the risks of a living organ donor might face in doing the generous deed?

The number of deceased organ donors increased by 28 since 2010, which is good news for those who are in need of an organ transplant. However, with the record high of organ donation, Australia's per capita donor rate is still one of the poorest among developed nations, 9 News reported.

With the deceased already doing their part in donating organs, should the living do their part as well? What are the risks involved in living organ donations? Are there any benefits to it?

Before going into deeper details about living organ donation, who are the ones eligible to be the Good Samaritan? Since someone else will be making use of the organ, donors should be, above anything else, healthy and have no major medical problems. Other requirements are: being proportionate when it comes to height-to-weight, having no history of diabetes, high blood pressure, or heart diseases, and being an adult under the age of 65, About.com reported.

With everything has been checked, people should be aware that there are risks involved in donating a specific organ, especially since the procedure to harvest the organ is considered a major surgery.

For a kidney donor, he or she could face an increased risk of high blood pressure and kidney failure. When it comes to donating a lung, the donor risks having blood clots, difficulty breathing, heart problems, and infection or inflammation of the lung; liver donors, on the other hand, may suffer from blood clots, small bowel obstructions, and bleeding problems.

Aside from the risks of donating the organs, a donor may also experience prolonged wound pains after the major surgical procedure, according NHS.uk. But not only that, there are also some psychological concerns, like depression and anxiety, which may come into play among donors, TransplantLiving.org reported.

So with all these dangers, why bother being a living organ donor at all? That's organs donated by those who are alive usually functions immediately, especially when it comes to kidneys - kidneys donated by the deceased don't function immediately and thus leads to the recipient requiring dialysis until the kidney starts to function, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

Often times, living organ transplants are done between family members since it is a better genetic match. Since it is much more compatible, the risk of rejection is very low.

To quell the worries that some might have when it comes to donating one of their organs, transplantation is has high success rates, and the fact is, it continues to improve.