The Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network established standards taking effect December 6 that mandate clamping and venting vessels leading to the head, while advising against donor-paralyzing drugs. These measures were prompted by reports of retrieval teams observing signs of life when blood inadvertently reached the brain. Opponents maintain these safeguards provide minimal new protection since many surgical teams already vent these vessels. Critics also object to enacting the initial phase on an emergency basis before the public could fully weigh in.
Key points
Ethicists and surgeons argue that restarting blood flow after declaring circulatory death…: Ethicists and surgeons argue that restarting blood flow after declaring circulatory death violates the established Dead Donor Rule.
The emergency implementation of the policy bypassed full public input, drawing significan…: The emergency implementation of the policy bypassed full public input, drawing significant frustration from critics.
Opponents warn the new mandates fail to resolve core questions regarding whether donors a…: Opponents warn the new mandates fail to resolve core questions regarding whether donors are technically dead during organ removal.
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The U.S. organ transplant system has approved the first national policy for a controversial procedure used to remove organs from hospital patients. The guidelines are designed to protect potential donors. But critics say they do little to improve safety and fail to address deeply troubling ethical concerns.
The procedure is called normothermic regional perfusion, known as NRP. It can be used after a family has decided to withdraw care because there's no hope of meaningful recovery for the person. To perform NRP, doctors attach an external pump to a donor minutes after their circulation has ended and they've been declared dead. The pump restores blood flow to their hearts, lungs, kidneys, liver and other organs to keep them from deteriorating.
"The hope with NRP is that it increases the supply of organs and it increases the quality of the organs," says Dr. Raymond Lynch, the director of transplantation at the Health Resources & Services Administration, the federal agency that oversees the organ transplant system.
NRP could help solve the chronic organ shortage, Lynch says. More than 109,000 Americans are waiting…
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