NSW initiative on organ transplants
NSW Health will release new guidelines later this year, to allow organs to be retrieved once a patient’s heart has stopped rather than after they are declared brain dead.
Australia’s organ donation network says more lives could be saved if this NSW initiative were to be followed by other States.
One to two people die each week in Australia waiting for a kidney transplant, with more people waiting for a kidney – usually up to four years – than any other organ.
The number of kidneys coming from deceased owners is about half the rate in many countries around the world. Only 54 people from NSW donated their organs in 2005.
Dr Timothy Mathew, medical director with Kidney Health Australia, supports the NSW plan to formalise a policy that allows organs to be retrieved once a patient’s heart and circulation stops.
Conditions will apply: the patient must have given prior consent to have their organs retrieved and families must agree that continuing the life of their loved one is futile and should be discontinued.
