The opportunity for organ, tissue and cornea donation most often results from
an individual sustaining an injury that causes brain death, which means the brain
has stopped and will not work again. Common causes of brain death are motor
vehicle accidents, head injuries or strokes.
Once authorization is determined, a team of organ
transplant surgeons will surgically recover organs,
tissues and corneas, and transport them to patients
awaiting transplantation.
Organ Placement
As recovery is taking place, the donor’s blood type,
height and weight are entered into a national
database with a list of patients awaiting an organ
transplant. The computer then matches the donor’s
organs, tissues and corneas with transplant
candidates in most critical need.
After Donating
Donation does not prevent the donor from having
an open-casket funeral. The only way mourners
could tell if the deceased was a donor is if the
family chooses to share the way the donor
helped others.
About 10 days after donation, the donor’s family
will receive a letter from CORE describing how
the donor helped transplant recipients. One organ,
tissue and cornea donor may help between 50
and 150 people.
Whether or not a patient is an organ, tissue and
cornea donor, paramedics, nurses and doctors will
continue life-saving measures until the patient
is stabilized and tests are performed. Only when
a patient is pronounced brain dead will they be
evaluated for donation.
Traditional organ donation requires a patient to
be in a hospital and on a ventilator when they are
pronounced brain dead. If a patient experiences
cardiac death, which means the heart has stopped
and will not work again, they will be evaluated for
tissue and cornea donation.
Organ Recovery
Once doctors inform the family that the patient
has died, hospital personnel are required to notify
a CORE specialist who will determine the potential
for organ, tissue and cornea donation.
CORE will discuss donation with the patient’s
family and obtain a medical and social history
before proceeding with recovery. If the patient
is at least 18 years-old and is a designated organ
donor, CORE will continue to work with the family,
but no one can overrule the patient’s wishes.
Facing page (clockwise from top left): Clark Higginbotham, Donor Family; Jim Uhrig, Recipient; Sarah Miller, Donor Family; Antonela Kasic, Recipient;
Laura Clark, Living Donor
