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-- Each year in the United States, approximately
15,000 people die under conditions which make them medically suitable
potential organ donors. Sadly, only 4,627 of those who died in
1999 became organ donors. In 1998, 4,318 families said "yes" to
donation. The quality of hospital
care is not lessened if the staff knows the patient is willing
to be a donor.
-- Transplant teams do not become involved
until other physicians concerned with the patient's care have determined
that all possible efforts to save the patient's life have failed.
-- Organs are allocated according to medical criteria like blood type,
height, weight and the urgency of medical need, not according to a patient's
financial, political, social or celebrity status.
-- Donation is a sterile surgical procedure.
Open casket funerals are possible. Experience shows that families are
more willing to donate a loved one's organs and tissues if they have
had prior conversations about donation with the deceased.
-- Organs can only be out of the body
for a short amount of time:
Heart: 4-6 hours
Lung: 4-6 hours
Liver: 12-24 hours
Kidneys: 48-72 hours
* One person who decides to be an organ and tissue
donor can save or improve the quality of life to over 50 people.
* A single act of kindness in the form of donating
one person's organs can easily touch the lives of eight people waiting
for organ transplants. The lungs can be transplanted individually
to two patients, the heart to another patient, the liver to yet another,
and the kidneys to two others. The pancreas and small bowel may also
be used. In addition, many other patients may have their lives improved
by corneal transplants, heart valves, bone and tendon grafts and
skin grafts.
* In 1984, the United States Congress passed
the National Organ Transplant Act that mandated the establishment
of a national organ procurement and transplantation network to equitably
and fairly distribute organs. The United Network for Organs Sharing
(UNOS) was then formed to undertake the responsibility of administering
this network. It is illegal in the United States to buy or sell human
organs. UNOS expends great effort to ensure that organ allocation
is not prejudiced along racial, economic, geographical, gender or
any other basis.
* On average, a new name is added to the national
waiting list for organs every 14 minutes. At the end of 1999, there
were 72,255 people waiting for a transplant. In 1998, there were
64,423 waiting and in 1997, there were 56,716 waiting patients.
* In a 1993 Gallup poll, 93 percent of Americans
were aware of organ donation, 83 percent would donate their loved
one’s organs while only 52 percent would be willing to donate
their own organs.
* Each year the number of people waiting for
an organ transplant increases by thousands, while the number of organ
donors each year remains at approximately 5,000.
* More than 500,000 Americans are waiting for
a tissue transplant.
* Each day, 15 to 17 people die while waiting
for a life-saving organ because not enough organs are donated.
* Donor organs are matched to waiting recipients
by a national computer registry, called the National Organ Procurement
and Transplantation Network (OPTN). This computer registry is operated
by an organization known as the United Network for Organ Sharing
(UNOS), which is located in Richmond, Virg.
* Currently, there are 51 organ procurement
organizations (OPOs) across the country, which provide organ procurement
services to some 261 transplant centers.
* By federal mandate, all states must have some
form of "Required Request" legislation, which requires
hospitals within the state to set up a protocol for offering the
next-of-kin of someone who has died the option of donating the organs
and tissues of the deceased.
* The success rates of all types of organ and
tissue transplants have improved due to advances in surgical techniques,
organ preservation and the development of more effective drugs to
prevent rejection.
More Facts Courtesy
of UNOS and Other Various Sources
• More than 84,000 people are on the nation’s
organ transplant waiting list. About 650 of them are five years old
or younger.
• On average, 110 people are added to the nation’s organ transplant
waiting list each day—one every 13 minutes.
• An average of 70 organ transplants take place in the United States every
day from either a living or deceased donor.
• On average, 16 patients die every day awaiting an organ
• A single donor can save or enhance the lives of 50 people.
• Organs and tissues that can be donated include: heart, kidneys, lungs,
pancreas, liver, intestines, corneas, skin, tendons, bone, and heart valves.
• A living donor can supply a kidney or a portion of their liver, lung,
pancreas or intestine.
• People of all ages and medical histories should consider themselves potential
donors. There is no age limit for organ donation. Your medical condition at the
time of your death determines what organs and tissue can be donated.
• There is no national registry of organ donors. Even if you have indicated
your wish to donate on your driver’s license or a donor card, be sure you
have told your family. They will be consulted before donation can take place.
• All major religions approve of organ and tissue donation and consider
donation the greatest gift.
• An open-casket funeral is possible for organ and tissue donors.
Facts courtesy of UNOS, and various sources.
Kidney
About 80 percent of the kidneys transplanted
from cadavers (persons who've died recently) are still functioning
well at one year after surgery. The results are even better for
kidneys transplanted from living related donors because of more
closely matched organs. One year after surgery, 93 percent of these
kidneys were still functioning well.
Joseph E. Murray, M.D., of Brigham & Women's Hospital, in Boston,
Mass., preformed the first successful kidney transplant in 1954.
Liver
About 6 percent of the patients currently waiting
for liver transplants are young people less than 18 years of age.
Myths About
Donation
1. Donation will mutilate my body.
Donated organs are removed surgically, in a routine operation similar
to gallbladder or appendix removal. Normal funeral arrangements are possible.
2. I might want to donate one organ, but I do
not want to donate everything.
You may specify what organs you want donated. Your wishes will be followed.
3. If I am in an accident and the hospital knows
that I want to be a donor, the doctors will not try to save my life.
Organ and tissue recovery takes place only after all efforts to save
your life have been exhausted and death has been legally declared. The
medical team treating you is completely separate from the transplant
team. The organ procurement organization (OPO) is not notified until
all life-saving efforts have failed and death has been determined. The
OPO does not notify the transplant team until your family has consented
to donation.
4. If I donate, I would worry that the recipient
and/or the recipient's family would discover my identity and cause
more grief for my family.
Information about the donor is released by the OPO to the recipients
only if the family that donated requests that it be provided.
5. My religion does not support donation.
All mainstream organized religions support donation, typically considering
it a generous act that is the individual's choice.
6. Only heart, liver and kidneys can be transplanted.
The pancreas, lungs, small and large intestines and the stomach can also
be transplanted.
7. Wealthy people are the only people who receive
transplants.
Anyone requiring a transplant is eligible for one. Arrangements can be
made with the transplant hospital for individuals requiring financial
assistance.
8. I have a history of medical illness. You would
not want my organs or tissues.
At the time of death, the appropriate medical professionals will review
your medical and social histories to determine whether or not you can
be a donor. With recent advances in transplantation, more people than
ever before can be donors. It's best to sign a donor card and tell your
family your wishes.
9. I don't need to tell my family that I want
to be a donor because I have it written in my will.
By the time your will is read, it will be too late to recover your organs.
Telling your family now that you want to be an organ and tissue donor
is the best way to ensure that your wishes are carried out.
10. I've heard about a business traveler who
is heavily drugged, then awakes to find he or she has had one kidney
(or sometimes both) removed for a black market transplant.
This tale has been widely circulated over the Internet. There is absolutely
no evidence of such activity ever occurring in the U.S. or any other
industrialized country. While the tale may sound credible, it has no
basis in the reality of organ transplantation. Many people who hear the
myth probably dismiss it, but it is possible that some believe it and
decide against organ donation out of needless fear.
More Myths About
Donation
“ If I am
in an accident and I’m listed as a donor, the staff will
not try to save my life.”
The medical team treating you is separate from the transplant team. The
organ procurement organization is not notified until all life-saving
measures have failed and death is inevitable.
“My family will have to pay for
the costs of donating my organs.”
A donor’s family is never charged for donation.
“Organ donation will disfigure
or alter the appearance of my loved one’s body.”
Donated organs and tissues are removed by specially trained surgeons
who perform careful, organized surgeries. These procedures do not disfigure
the body, and do not interfere with normal funeral arrangements.
“The wealthy or famous get preferential
treatment when an organ becomes available.”
Everyone accepted on a transplant waiting list receives equal access,
regardless of social status. Organs are assigned to candidates based
on medical factors. Economic status, race, religion or any other non-medical
factors are never considered. For those requiring financial assistance,
arrangements are usually made with the transplant hospital.
Milestones in Organ Donation
1800's Italian surgeons attempted skin
grafting.
1904 Carrell performed anastomosis without thrombosis.
1904 Dog to goat kidney transplant was performed.
1905 First successful cornea transplant performed.
1943 Immune system was discovered.
1951 Nine failed kidney transplants were performed and failed secondary
to rejection.
1954 First successful living related kidney transplant was performed
between twins at Brigham Hospital, Boston, Mass.
1959 Immunosuppression therapy was started. Radiation therapy was performed.
1961 Imuran (immunosuppressive drug) was discovered.
1962 First post-mortem kidney transplant was performed at Brigham Hospital,
Boston. Steroids were discovered.
1964 Histocompatability testing was started.
1966 Imuran and steroids were used in combination. First successful
pancreas transplant.
1967 Dr. Christian Barnard performs first heart transplant in Capetown,
South Africa. Dr. Thomas Starzl performs first liver transplant at
University of Colorado.
1968 Anatomical Gift Act passed. Defined rights and responsibilities
of donors, donor cards started and procedure established for health
care professionals in dealing with organ donation.
1972 Cyclosporine (immunosuppressive drug) discovered.
1977 First statistics published on kidney transplants: one-year graft
survival 53 percent and five-year graft survival 30 percent.
1978 Brain Death Act passed. Law defined brain death, recognized brain
death and defined the process used to determine death.
1980 Cyclosporine and steroids used in combination for kidney transplant
recipients.
1981 First heart-lung transplant at Stanford University. Cyclosporine
and steroids used in combination for liver transplant recipients.
1983 First successful single lung transplant.
1984 At request of U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Starzl publishes instructions
on procuring organs other than kidneys. Procedure later became known
as the Pittsburgh Technique. National Organ Transplant Act passed.
Donor and transplant process reviewed, Organ Procurement Organizations
(OPO's) established, scientific registry started, purchase of organs
prohibited and bone marrow registry started.
1986 First successful double lung transplant. United Network for Organ
Sharing (UNOS) given federal contract for the national access and allocation
of organ distribution. Hospitals mandated to refer all brain deaths
to OPO's or face losing Medicare funding. Donor families would be given
the option to donate organs.
1988 U/W or Viaspan was FDA approved; this extended the length of preservation
of an organ outside the body.
1989 First successful living-related liver transplant.
1990 First successful living-related lung transplant.
1991 First successful small bowel transplant performed.
In an effort to heighten awareness about the
extreme need for organ and tissue donation, legislators passed Nebraska
Bill LB 137. This bill will raise money by giving Nebraska motorists
the option of contributing one dollar to help raise awareness of
organ and tissue donation when they apply for or renew their driver's
license. The funds will be managed by the Organ and Tissue Donor
Task Force of Nebraska which The Nebraska Medical Center Donate Life
Services is a charter member. The bill implemented on Jan. 3, 2000
was formulated in cooperation with the Department of Motor Vehicles
of Nebraska in hopes of highlighting the importance of organ and
tissue donation through education and promotion and encouraging Nebraskans
to consider becoming donors.
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