Organ Transplantation & Advanced Care

Mini Series #2

Most Commonly donated Organs

• Kidney

• Liver

• Heart

• Lungs

Best candidates for organ transplantation

• People who are pronounced brain dead & are unventilated

Most Frequently mentioned reasons for not wanting to donate one’s organs

• “ick” factor

• Religious/spiritual beliefs

• Medical reasons (ex. Hepatitis, cancer, HIV)

• Personal reasons (ex. just don’t want to)

• Want to keep my organs/body intact

• Too old

• Don’t know enough about it

• Hospital staff won’t work as hard to save their life if they are an organ donor

Dr. Williard Gaylin (1974): “Harvesting the dead”

• Series of recommendations for using neomorts to serve as an organ & tissue bank

• Recommended keeping them in a neomortorium (keeping on life support)

Neomort

Newly dead individuals

• Have the legal status of the dead w/o the qualities associated w/ death

• Woudl be warm, respirating, pulsating, & excreting bodies requiring nursing, dietary, & general attn

• Could probably be maintained for a period of years