Surgeons retrieving organs for transplant just after a donor’s heart stops beating would no longer have to wait at least two minutes to be sure the heart doesn’t spontaneously start again under new rules being considered by the group that coordinates organ allocation in the United States.
The organization also is poised to eliminate an explicit ban on even considering anyone for those donations before doctors and family members have independently decided to stop trying to save them.
The proposed changes by the United Network for Organ Sharing are part of the first major overhaul of the 2007 guidelines governing “donation after cardiac death.”
Proponents say the changes strengthen the transplant system by aligning the rules with other regulatory bodies. Critics say the move heightens the risk that potential donors will be treated more like tissue banks than sick people deserving every chance to live — or die — peacefully.
