“The overwhelming majority of those who choose to become organ donors cannot realize their wishes, since most deaths occur outside of a hospital,” said Dr. Lewis Goldfrank, director of emergency services at Bellevue Hospital Center, in a press release.
About 8,000 New Yorkers await life-saving organ transplants. Backed by a $1.5 million federal grant, the city, NYPD, Fire Department, and Bellvue Hospital have joined forces to recover organs from donors who die outside of hospitals and bring them to those who need them.
Similar programs have met with success in Spain and France, but the New York City initiative is the first of its kind in the United States. The pilot is currently confined to kidney and liver transplants, with organs taken from cardiac arrest victims. Goldfrank explained that these are the easiest transplant scenarios to work with.
“We had to reach an agreement with all [of] the agencies—city, state, and federal. We had to prove that it could be done and that we could cooperate with all people and all cultures across the city, so we thought the best and the easiest [transplants] should be done [first],” he said.
Candidate donors must meet several qualifications designed to filter for the most ideal cases. For example, they must be between the ages of 18 and 60 and meet certain medical history requirements.
Goldfrank is hopeful that if this system works, it could then be extended to many other potential donors.
The pilot will be implemented in Manhattan until May 2011, at which time an official review will determine whether to expand it to the other boroughs.
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HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS
Upon receiving an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) call, the Fire Department will alert a trained organ preservation team. The team will be deployed if all resuscitation efforts have failed and an organ donor card is available, or if the deceased was registered as a New York State Donor.
Some people fear that EMS workers might not try as hard to resuscitate a patient if they know the organs will be donated. The Fire Department, however, has assured the public that all efforts will be made by the EMS team, who will remain a separate entity from the organ preservation program.
A family services specialist will be included in the organ preservation team, said Julia E. Rivera of the Organ Donation Network. All steps in the program will be executed with utmost respect for the deceased and his or her family, she said.
The NYPD will participate in the program to insure that a potential crime scene would not be disturbed by the removal of a body. Any suspicious circumstances will be noted by an investigator that will arrive with the organ preservation team to determine whether the deceased should be removed.
The donor will be transported to Bellevue Hospital in an Organ Preservation Ambulance. Their blood will be kept pumping en route to preserve the organs and a ventilator will keep oxygen in the blood stream, explained Goldfrank. Once at the hospital, an operation will occur only with written consent or consent from family or next-of-kin.
“Our Emergency Medical Service, which already responds to more than 1.2 million calls each year, is proud to begin this innovative new program that can save countless more lives each year,” stated Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano in a press release.
Not only could the procedure save lives, but it can also provide some comfort to the families of the deceased.
“My son became an organ donor after a deadly crash caused by a drunk driver,” recounted Celina Lopez in a press release. “His gifts gave life to five people that were on the list waiting for an organ.”
Rivera encourages everyone to have a conversation with their loved ones about becoming organ donors.
“We’re all at one point or another going to pass on. I think it’s very important to have the conversation about organ donation,” she said. “It removes a big load from the families, as they can be sure you want to be a donor.”
Over 109,000 people await organs that could save their lives across the nation, and over 6,500 Americans die every year while waiting for an organ. New York City currently has one of the lowest organ donation rates in the United States.
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