Family OKs organ donation from brain-dead woman in 3rd consent case+

TOKYO, Aug. 22 Kyodo -
The family of a brain-dead woman gave consent for her organs to be donated in
the third case of family-approved donation in which the patient had not
expressed an intention to donate in writing, a transplant coordination group
said Sunday.
The woman in her 50s was declared brain dead at 5:41 a.m. Sunday at a hospital
in the Tokai region centered on Nagoya due to damage to her brain's blood
vessels, said the Japan Organ Transplant Network, the only entity certified as
an intermediary for organ transplants in Japan.
Members of her family said they had never talked about organ donation with the
patient but that they hoped donating her organs would be of assistance to
someone and that they would be happy if part of her continued to live,
according to the network.
The woman's doctor, who had earlier informed her family members about the
option of donating her organs as she was in critical condition, told them
Saturday that the patient may be certified as brain dead, the network said.
The family, including the father, elder brother and elder sister, then asked
for further explanations about organ donation and met with a coordinator from
the network before making their decision, it said.
The network said it confirmed through documents such as the patient's health
insurance card and its registration system that the patient had not expressed
an intention to refuse to donate her organs.
The woman's organs, which will be harvested from Sunday afternoon, are
scheduled to be transplanted to patients at four medical facilities, according
to the network.
The heart will go to a woman in her 30s and the lungs to a woman in her 20s at
Tohoku University Hospital in Sendai, the liver to a man in his 60s at Osaka
University Hospital, a kidney and the pancreas to a woman in her 30s at Nagoya
Daini Red Cross Hospital and the other kidney to a woman in her 40s at Fujita
Health University Hospital near Nagoya, the network said.
In the first case of family consent under the revised transplant law which went
into force in July, a man in his 20s who was pronounced brain dead on Aug. 9
had verbally told his family of his willingness to donate his organs.
But in the second case, the decision to donate was made solely by the family of
the patient, identified by the network only as ''a man aged 18 or over,'' who
was declared brain dead on Thursday.
The original transplant law, enforced in 1997, required a donor to be at least
15 years old and to have expressed his or her wishes regarding organ donation
in writing. It was revised in 2009 to smooth the way for transplantation from
brain-dead donors.
==Kyodo
2010-08-22 17:00:55