2. Donor Suffers an Accident

Brain Death

Most organ donors are people who suffer from head injuries that result in brain death. These head injuries may include a stroke, trauma after an accident, or brain tumor that has not spread to other parts of the body. Brain death occurs when blood and oxygen cannot flow to the brain while the heart is still beating providing blood and oxygen to other parts of the body. Patients with brain death usually require a ventilator or breathing machine to bring oxygen into the lungs. In brain death the organs remain functional and can be used for transplantation after a physician declares the patient brain dead. Because of the potential for conflict of interest, this physician may not be part of a transplant team.

Cardiac Death

Cardiac death is declared when the heart stops beating. Very few organ donations come from cardiac deaths. Lahey has chosen not to participate in cardiac death donations due to the uncertainty of their success rates, since organs begin deteriorating as soon as the heart stops delivering oxygenated blood to the body.

Your Family Authorizes Donation

After a person has been declared brain dead, the local OPO will ask the family for permission to harvest the organs of the deceased. Family members are the only ones who may give consent for donation, or refuse it. The OPO is legally not authorized to harvest organs without the family's consent.

Choosing the Organ Recipient

To prevent illegal or immoral activities, UNOS typically doesn’t allow the family of the deceased donor to choose who receives the organs. Instead, they are allocated to candidates on the waitlist, based on their medical characteristics.

There are rare instances when the family of the deceased donor may already have a friend or family member on the waitlist. In this case, if they are of compatible blood-type, they may take part in “direct donation”. This means the needed organ is directed specifically to that person, regardless of their status on the waitlist. The remaining organs will still follow the standard allocation process.