The president of the Portuguese Society of Transplantation has defended an amendment of the law that allows organ harvesting from people who are dying in Intensive care but who are not declared brain dead.
“Unfortunately, in Portugal and around the world, there is a lack of organs for transplantation, because not enough organs are harvested.” Said Cristina Jorge, pointing to the case of people in “controlled cardiocirculatory arrest.”
“Donors in controlled cardiocirculatory arrest are people who are in intensive care, in end-of-life situations and to whom the support devices are turned off, because there is no chance for that person,” explains the president of the PTS.
The specialist believes that, in Portugal, these people are not considered donors – because brain death is not declared – and these organs end up not being used, unlike what happens, for example, with donors in “uncontrolled cardio-circulatory arrest.”
“These are people who suffer a cardiac arrest and are resuscitated and taken to the hospital. If that resuscitation is not successful, they can be considered donors and their organs can be harvested,” he explained.
For organs to be used in cases of donors “in controlled cardio-respiratory arrest,” Cristina Jorge said the law would have to be changed. “In other countries this already happens,” said the expert, recalling: “Often, you don’t need to have brain death formally declared.”
For the president of the PTS, who was speaking on National Organ Donation and Transplantation Day, a change in the law could increase the number of donors and organs available for transplantation.
In Portugal, all citizens can be considered potential organ donors, providing they have not registered with the National Registry of Non-Donors.
Data from the Portuguese Institute of Blood and Transplantation (IPST) released in April indicate that last year there were 814 organ transplants, 15 more than in 2021. The figures also point to the highest number of transplanted lungs ever – 76 organs in 39 patients.
In 2021 Portugal occupied 4th place in the world organ donation ranking from deceased donors, with 29.6 donors per million inhabitants (pmh).
Samantha Gannon
Info at madeira-weekly.com
