Organ donations could rise under pilot project that won't require brain death

A pilot project in Moncton aims to increase the number of organ donations in New Brunswick by allowing doctors to remove organs from donors after cardiovascular death.

Until now, organ donations in the province could only bedoneafter neurological death, which can occur after head injuries or strokes.

Being allowed to remove certain organs after the heart stops beatingcould increase donations, say the Horizon and Vitalithealthnetworks, which are collaborating on the project at the Dr-Georges-L.-Dumont Hospital Centre in Moncton.

The goal is a 30 per cent increase in organ donations in the province.

Rmi LeBlanc, the head of the intensive care unit at the Dumont, said kidneys and livers can be harvested after cardiovascular death but not other organs.

Donations in the province

The Dumont will be the only hospital in the province to harvest organs from donors who died a cardiac death.

"I have every confidence this is going to be good for New Brunswick and well accepted," said Robert Adams, medical director of the organ donation division of the New Brunswick organ and tissue donation program.

The project could be expanded to other hospitals, he said.

Four hospitals in the province harvest organs after neurological death: the Georges Dumont and Moncton hospitals, the Chalmers hospital in Fredericton and the Saint John Regional Hospital.

Last year, 34 donors were referred for organ removal.

Thirty-seven organs were removed from 11 of these donors, and 30 were received by patients from New Brunswick.

Vitalit said that in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia donations went up between 20 and 30 per cent after they started harvesting organs from cardiovascular deaths.

In New Brunswick, more than150 patients are waiting for organs, including 128 waiting for either livers or kidneys.

Isabelle-Anne Girouard, an ER doctor, said it's important for people to discuss organ donation with their families, because families have the final say.

"Even if you have a 'D' on your card, you need to [make] your family aware of this or else the family can actually decline consent when it comes down to giving the organs," said Girouard.