Report: Keep dead people 'Alive' for organs
UK, Feb. 13, 2012
Dead people should be kept on artificial ventilators so their organs remain in prime condition for transplantation, according to a controversial new report.
The British Medical Association (BMA) says radical measures are needed to increase the number of organs available for transplant.
Currently three people a day die while waiting for a suitable organ from a donor.
The report also suggests removing organs from newborn babies, including those who have died during childbirth.
Currently three people a day die while waiting for a suitable donor organ
Dr Tony Calland, chairman of the BMA's medical ethics committee, said: "As a society we need to decide whether we should accept that we have done all we can or whether we should move forward, cautiously.
"There needs to be a public debate on what will work for the UK so that people on the transplant list do not die waiting for a donor."
So-called 'elective ventilation' is already accepted practice in the US.
Patients - such as those who have suffered a stroke - can be put on artificial breathing support shortly before they die.
The machine continues to oxygenate their organs after death until a transplant team can be assembled.
The method was used by the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital for several years, increasing the number of organs available for transplant by 50%, but was ruled illegal by the Department of Health in 1994.
There needs to be a public debate on what will work for the UK so that people on the transplant list do not die waiting for a donor.
Legal experts say the treatment is futile and of no benefit to the patient, so contravenes the principle of medical ethics in the UK.
The BMA report also suggests transplanting the non-beating hearts of people who have suffered a 'circulatory death' and restarting them in another patient.
According to NHS Blood and Transplant, in 2010-11 there were 2,695 organs transplanted from 1,010 donors. But 7,800 people remain on the transplant list.
Figures due in April 2012 are expected to show transplant rates have increased by 35% over the past four years.
But that still falls short of the 50% target set by the Government's organ donation taskforce.
Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS medical director, said: "This report is a welcome contribution to the debate about how we encourage more people to be organ donors."
The Welsh government has just finished a consultation on proposals to change the donor system from the current opt-in system to an opt-out scheme, where people are presumed to have consented to be a donor unless they take themselves off the list.
It hopes to make the switch in 2015.
Source: Sky.com
Finland, May 08, 2012
Researchers in Finland have developed biodegradable joint implants they say will bring permanent pain relief to arthritis suffe... 
May 03, 2012
A molecular change that switches genes on or off can pre-empt the onset of breast cancer decades before the disease develops.
Scientis... 
April 25, 2012
Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in malaria. This is the theme for this year’s World Malaria Day Emphasis has been placed on the ne... 