Carriage House Plans: Organ Donor Facts

Sunday 25 November 2012

Organ Donor Facts

Organs are only removed for transplantation after a person has died. Doctors who are entirely independent of the transplant team will confirm death. Death is confirmed in exactly the same way for people who donate organs as for those who don't. Most organ donors are patients who die because of a brain haemorrhage, severe head injury or stroke and who are on a ventilator in a hospital intensive care unit. In these circumstances, death is diagnosed by brain stem tests. There are very clear and strict standards and procedures for these tests, which are always performed by two experienced doctors.The ventilator provides oxygen that keeps the heart beating and blood circulating after death. These donors are called heart-beating donors. Organs such as hearts, which deteriorate very quickly without an oxygen supply, are usually only donated by a heart-beating donor.Patients who die in hospital but aren't on a ventilator can, in some circumstances, donate their kidneys and other organs. They're called non-heart-beating donors. Both heart-beating and non-heart-beating donors can donate their corneas and other tissue.