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Poisoned Patients As Potential Organ Donors: Postal Survey Of Transplant Centres And Intensive Care Units, David Michael Wood, Paul Ivor Dargan, Alison L. Jones

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background The number of patients awaiting allograft transplantation in the UK exceeds the number of organs offered for transplantation each year. Most organ donors tend to be young, fit and healthy individuals who die because of trauma or sudden cardiac arrest. Patients who die from drug and poison intoxication tend to have similar characteristics but are less frequently offered as potential organ donors. Methods A postal questionnaire survey of all transplantation centres and an equal number of intensive care units in the UK was undertaken. The use of kidney, heart, lung, liver and pancreas transplants from poisoned patients following deliberate …