NY considers creating 'organ-removal' ambulance

[SC MedicMike]

NY considers creating 'organ-removal' ambulance

Click here

[emt322632]

"I'm sorry m'am, there's nothing more we can do..."

.....

"By the way, do you mind if we have that kidney?"

[air.stump]

WHY??

[firedoc5]

Ever see the movie "Paramedics"?

Several times we helped with keeping patients that were "brain dead" alive until a Transplant team arrived to harvest any and all organs that were salvageable. Some thought that was gruesome enough.

[air.stump]

I get that firedoc but why would that require a specialized crew and unit? Couldn't they spend their money on better things like paying paramedics more?

[firedoc5]

I get that firedoc but why would that require a specialized crew and unit? Couldn't they spend their money on better things like paying paramedics more?

It was usually in the ER and instead of the nurses being tied up with the patient, we relieved them so they could resume their regular duties. An on-call doc would come in to monitor things, and RT would be there of course, and 2-3 of us would be with the patient. It got to where some of the docs preferred us than the nurses.

One time there was a patient that came in with a HALO and it had been hit and shifted. His doc came in to adjust it, but he requested that a couple of us be called in to help. He didn't want the nurses. That didn't go over too well with some.

[NYMedics]

NY considers creating 'organ-removal' ambulance

Click here

The Pilot Program is in place. The reporting offered to JEMS readers is found here. However, the article is largely inaccurate and has inflammed most if not all lay people and EMS personnel.

Here is my response to that article:

With a career spanning over twenty years in the NYC EMS 9-1-1 system as an EMT/paramedic, and for the last 6 years, a manager for a non-profit Transplant and Recovery Organization, I have a unique perspective of how Organ, Tissue and Eye donation improves the quality of life of recipients. I am also aware of the traumatic effect at-home resuscitation and terminations have on all involved. I believe donation has the ability to offer a positive outcome from a tragic loss.

In her article, NY Organ Recovery Expands To At-Home Deaths, Samantha Gross, reports on a recent collaboration between the New York Organ Donor Network, and various NYC Municipal Agencies implemented to save lives through failed resuscitations in the field. Although somewhat informative, the reporting is ridden with inaccuracies and may be more harmful to the EMS and Organ, Tissue and Eye donation community than helpful.

I find it unfortunate for Ms Gross to include the following quote by Dr. Hasan Yersiz, director of organ procurement at the University of California Los Angeles. "You have somebody dying and you have to make that decision very fast. It's not an easy situation", she reports. Clearly, participants in this program will be declared dead (10-83 D or 10-83 NR) prior to any decision to move forward with screening and determining donation eligibility. This statement will only raise additional concerns that appropriate lifesaving measures will not be encouraged.

Ms. Gross reports that, "In the U.S., a person must register as a donor - in New York State it's almost always done through the DMV - and family must also consent to the procedure after death." Although Ms. Gross is correct in reporting the most popular method in New York State is through the Department of Motor Vehicles, however she generalizes critical facts on donation that are required only by the NYC pilot program.

Indeed, more needs to be done to increase the number of donors in NYC and elsewhere. Whether a retrofitted ambulance advertising "Organ Preservation Unit" is appropriate is up for debate. What NYC does not need is another emergency vehicle. However, staying on message and reporting accurate and truthful information is vital.

Should you wish to read proper reporting of this pilot program please read the NPR version

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131717016

Your thoughts?

[WolfmanHarris]

Thank-you for clearing it up.

I for one have no issue with this program. I trust that those selected to be involved with the organ recovery project will have an appreciation for the delicateness of the situation and will handle it with compassion and understanding. Nowhere did it say or imply that anything but the best efforts would be made for the patient or that the family would be pressured or compelled; certainly not anymore then they would in hospital when the staff ask about organ donation.

If I happen to suffer an untimely death while my body is otherwise still suitable to best used to aid others, I would hate to think of it going to waste. I have made it clear to my wife, repeatedly, that I wish as much of my body that can be used to aid others as possible. This is not the right choice for many people for cultural or religious reasons, but for many their hang-up is more a discomfort with facing their own mortality.

[Kiwiology]

I cannot but help wonder if this ambulance wil be staffed by the same people who bought me a drink at that bar in Mexico ..... its just no fun waking up in a bathtub of ice thats for sure!

[Chief1C]

I always want to lecture people, when they call Motorcycles; Donorcycles. B/c when someone dies on one, their organs go with them, to the funeral home. Often, it's a head injury that kills them, at least around here. Head and neck injuries. If we took some of them to the nearest hospital, maybe something could be salvaged. Just sayin'.