The Organ Donation Process

- By Dr. Joan Pellegrini

There is extensive information available about how to become an organ and tissue donor. Most of us by now know that there are 100,000 people in the US waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. We even make it easy in the State of Maine by allowing you to designate yourself as a donor when you get or renew your driver's license. However, there is almost no information out there about what this might mean for your loved ones if the time comes for them to be notified that you are a potential organ donor.

The vast majority of organ donors sign a declaration card without knowing exactly what this will mean for their family and loved ones if in fact something tragic really does happen to them. I very much want everyone to be an organ donor but I also want donors and their families to be well-informed about the processes that will take place. Once you sign an organ donor card, please tell your family about your wishes. Then, tell them what might happen if you are a potential donor. Our local resource is the New England Organ Bank (www.neob.org or 800-446-6362). Their website does not have this type of information but you may call them with questions. Alternatively, you may print this page to help you discuss this with your family.

Many of us think that if we are an organ donor, then our organs will be taken as soon as we die. Unfortunately, if your heart is not beating, then the doctors will not be able to use your organs. You may still be a bone and tissue donor though. In order for you to donate organs, your heart and lungs must still be alive in order to keep your organs alive.

Most organ donors have had a sudden illness such as a stroke or heart attack or have been critically injured. If this were to happen to you, before approaching your family about donating your organs, the doctors usually first determine that your brain is dead and there is no chance for recovery. In order for your organs to be donated, the doctors and nurses must keep your heart and lungs alive on a breathing machine in the intensive care unit. Your illness or injury may not be visible and so you may look very much alive to your loved ones. Because you may look "OK", the news will be even more difficult for your family to understand. Your family will be devastated by the bad news and this would be a terrible time for them to learn that you wish to be an organ donor in the event of your death.

Organ donation does not happen immediately after it is determined that you are a potential donor. In fact, it may take 12-24 hours or even more. The reason for this is that the organ procurement organization (OPO) must review your medical history and do lab tests to look for reasons why they may not be able to use your organs. Some of these tests take hours for the results to come back. Also, some of these tests are actual procedures that take some time to be done (cardiac catheterization, bronchoscopy, tissue biopsies to name a few). Once your organs are found to be transplantable, the OPO must then match them to people on the waiting list who have your same blood type and tissue characteristics. Coordinating this effort takes time.

Steps that you should take:

Decide to be an organ and tissue donor.

Let your family and loved ones know about your wishes.

Tell your family that if something terrible were to happen to you, the doctors and nurses will help them to understand what is happening.

If the medical team determines that your illness is likely nonsurviveable, they will discuss organ donation with your family.

If you become an organ donor, the team will need several hours to coordinate this effort. The medical team will spend quite a bit of time with your family to help them understand the process.

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Your story about Organ Donation highlighted the tragic shortage of human organs for transplant operations.

Over half of the 100,000 Americans on the national transplant waiting list will die before they get a transplant. Most of these deaths are needless. Americans bury or cremate 20,000 transplantable organs every year.

There is a simple way to put a big dent in the organ shortage â�� give donated organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.

Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. People who aren't willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.

Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition. LifeSharers has over 12,000 members at this writing, including 62 members in Maine.

Please contact me - Dave Undis, Executive Director of LifeSharers - if your viewers would like to learn more about our innovative approach to increasing the number of organ donors. I can arrange interviews with some of our local members if you're interested. My email address is daveundis@lifesharers.org. My phone number is 615-351-8622.

Mr. Undis and his Lifesharers organization are not recognized as legitimate by those of us in the organ donation and allocation system. In fact, he misleads Lifesharers members by telling them that they will have preferred access to the organs of other Lifesharers members. That's never going to happen, unless the donor and recipient also happen to meet the existing system's waiting list criteria. They have no advantage. Furthermore, his theory that more people will register as donors if they think they will not get a transplant should they need one, is completely based in fear. A noble reason to register, right?

In more than 6 years, Mr. Undis has only managed to sign up a little more than 12,000 members for his "organ donor club". Those of us who do this lifesaving work full time have registered more than 82,000,000 Americans. And they didn't register out of fear, they registered because they thought they might be able to save lives.

If you'd like to know how to register to be a donor in your own state, go to www.donatelife.net.

Phil Van Stavern
LifeShare of Oklahoma
21-year kidney recipient

Comments

David J Undis 07/03/2009 12:24 pm

Phil Van Stavern 07/08/2009 01:30 pm