Donor who died in the hospital

When someone is declared as brain dead it means that they are dead and the death certificate will be issued. Family members will be called to discuss the possibility of organ and tissue donation of the deceased. If the family agrees to donate the tissue and organs, tests will be run to make sure what is still functioning, can be transferred and free from HIV, Hepatitis and Syphilis. Donor will be left on life support until the results of the tests are out and the surgery to procure the organs can be carried out after getting consent from family members. The plug-off of the ventilation machine will be done in front of the family. The surgery will be done in the operating theatre just like live patient and will be treated with respect. Only the surgery scar will be visible. All surgery cut will be sewn carefully and perfectly. Cotton balls will be placed in the eye brackets and it will be sewn just like a normal eye surgery. For bone donation, a fake bone will be replaced in return of the donated bone so there will be no physical deformation can be seen. Procurement process is to be done in three to eight hours depending on the numbers of tissue and organ that need to be removed form the donor. After the procurement process is complete, the corpse will be return in its best condition possible to the family at the hospital’s mortuary. If there’s any post mortem needed, this medico legal process will be rushed.

For those who died a natural death, only tissue can be donated like the eye corneas, heart valve, bone and skin. After getting a written consent from the family, the procurement process will still take place in the surgery room just like any other live patient surgery and it will still be treated with respect. Tissue can last long without oxygen and the transplant can be done up to 12 hours for eyes cornea and 24 hours for heart valve, skin and bone after the death of the donor.

For tissue donation, the family will be interviewed on donor’s health history and the background of donor’s infection risk to make sure that the donors are free from any infectious diseases. Blood tests will be conducted for this reason as well.

Donor that died at home

Those who died the naturally at home can only donate eye’s cornea. It can be procured up to six hours after the donor has been dead. For this reason please contact the nearest hospital or call the National Transplant Resource Centre at a Toll free number 1-800-88-9080 (Press 3) like printed at the back of donor’s card, for those who are registered as a donor. The number will directly connected to a transplant coordinator who will coordinate a team to go to the deceased house, get consent from the family and perform the procurement surgery there. The procurement team will also ask the family members regarding the deceased medical history and background of infection risks. The eye cornea procurement process usually takes less than an hour to be completed. It will be conducted in the most respect way to the deceased and won’t affect the physic of the corpse.