dysuria

I work in organ procurement. Many of our donors are high risk due to IV drug abuse and we have our fair share of overdose brain deaths. It really depends on the transplant center receiving the organs. We have some really aggressive and last resort centers who will transplant kidneys and livers which others would turn down.

Obviously we have to evaluate the big picture and organ function, but my first case was a Hep C donor and we recovered liver and kidneys. Another one had questionable IV drug use, and we placed everything but bowel. Recipients are definitely made aware of stuff like this, but sometimes it is "I will die and it is better then nothing."

There is a lot misinformation out there but research is showing good outcomes so far.

Interesting. Everywhere is different I guess.

So in your area organ and tissue are completely separate? Do you have to approach the families separately?

Sometimes I get to meet people from other OPOs coming in for a recovery or if we're going out and I like learning how it works elsewhere but we're usually too busy with the case to chit chat.

High risk stuff like history of IV drug use and things like Hep C will exclude tissue donation but it certainly will NOT rule out organ donation. It is up to the surgeons receiving the organs to accept based upon the med/social history. There are also separate lists for patients with Hep C waiting for transplant.