NSW: Controversial change to organ transplant policy

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2007
NSW: Controversial change to organ transplant policy

Transplant doctors will be able to remove organs from people whose heart and circulation
have stopped .. but who aren't brain dead.

Fairfax newspapers report the change .. drafted as a NSW government policy .. can increase
the availability of kidneys and other vital organs by 15 per cent.

Medical experts say organs deteriorate rapidly after blood circulation stops .. and
so they must be removed quickly.

Once cardiac death is confirmed .. waiting for brain activity to ultimately cease after
.. can apparently hinder the process.

But doctors won't be allowed to make any physical preparation to a person's body ..

while the would-be donor is still on artificial ventilation.







Only 204 Australians became donors after death in 2005 .. which resulted in the removal
of 736 transplantable organs.

The transplant waiting list stands at 1700 .. and is expected to blow out further ..

because of an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes .. a major cause of kidney failure.

AAP RTV vpm/nc

KEYWORD: TRANSPLANT (SYDNEY)

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