Most who are eliglble to donate, don't

April 17, 2005

By Anthony Davis

Texarkana Gazette

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."-Sir Winston Churchill

Of all the medical miracles scientific research has bestowed upon humankind, perhaps one of the more complex and misunderstood is that of human organ transplantation.

The fact that this life-saving process cannot be successfully achieved without the involvement of another person, overwhelmingly a complete stranger, makes organ transplant procedures even more fraught with potential resistance and misunderstanding.

April is National Organ Donor Awareness Month, a time to remind ourselves of the generosity and kindness of the thousands of people in this country who make organ donation possible, saving lives and relieving the heartache and fear of the recipients, their families and their friends.

There are slightly more than 87,000 patients awaiting organ donation in the United States. Each day 74 receive a second chance at life through donation of an organ while 17 die each day, their hopes for an extended life snuffed by time and availability of usable organs.

Here are a few facts about organ donation that are sometimes misunderstood:

• Organ donation costs nothing for the donor's family
• There are no age restrictions for organ donation
• All mainstream religions support the individual's right to choose to be an organ donor. Speak to your faith leader if you have questions
• Deciding to be an organ donor will have no effect on the medical care you receive if you are in an accident. Hospitals are only there to save lives. Only if all of their life-saving efforts fail, do they call the organ donation agency
• There is no need to "sign up" to be an organ donor. All that is necessary is to let your family know your wishes
• If a person dies in a way that makes him eligible to be an organ donor (in a hospital and on a ventilator), the hospital calls the organ donation agency and a specialist is sent to talk with the family. The family typically needs to know the person's wishes in order to feel comfortable saying yes
• Each year, only about 15,000 people in our country are actually medically suitable organ donors at the time of their death. More than 6,000 people become donors each year, which means that just over one-third of the potential is being realized

When people are on the fence about organ donation, one thing that can be said is to tell them to consider what they would do if someone they loved needed a transplant. If they would accept an organ to save a life, then they would surely consider donating if they were in a position to help others.

While donation has certainly not kept up with the need for transplants, the slow growth of the donation side is not entirely responsible for the disparity between need and supply. The popularity and success of transplantation has also helped to create the disparity. The list keeps growing because transplants work.

The two major holdups in donation have been making sure all families of potential donors get approached and getting families to make a decision about donation at such a difficult time, especially if they don't know their loved one's wishes.

The relatively new federal regulation requiring hospitals to inform their local organ donation agency of all deaths has led to a great increase in referrals and tissue donation but has yet to have a major impact on organ donation.

Information provided by Pam Sylvestri of the Southwest Transplant Alliance in Dallas, Texas.

Copyright © 2003 Texarkana Gazette.

This article posted May 17, 2005.