But no brain death organ donation stopped

Canceled organ donation: Severe error in brain death diagnosis

01/12/2015

According to a media report in a hospital in northern Germany, an organ donation had to be stopped because mistakes had been made in brain death diagnosis. The donor was already lying on the operating table with his belly cut open.

Belly of the donor was already cut open
According to a report, doctors have "once again made mistakes in detecting brain death as part of an organ donation." According to a message from the news agency dpa was "early December in a hospital in the Bremen / Bremerhaven an organ donation was canceled because the brain death of the donor was not diagnosed according to the rules provided for it". At that time, "the surgeons have already opened the abdomen," as the SZ reports in their Monday issue.

„Uncertainties regarding brain death diagnostics“
According to the newspaper, the German Foundation for Organ Transplantation (DSO) confirmed „Uncertainties regarding brain death diagnosis or its documentation“. It is said that the monitoring commission established at the German Medical Association (BÄK) has been informed. According to SZ, the medical association announced that „No information can be provided on ongoing proceedings in specific individual cases“. According to the information, the monitoring commission will soon „to review certain brain death investigations and diagnoses“.

Dead notes corrected in retrospect
Already a year ago it had become known that physicians had declared a total of ten patients deviating from the guidelines for brain dead within three years. According to DSO data, however, no organs were taken from living beings. At that time, the SZ had reported that even death certificates had to be corrected in retrospect. According to the newspaper, the cause lies in insufficient training of doctors in the field of brain death diagnostics. The board of directors of DSO, Rainer Hess, confirmed last year that physicians are in some disagreement over exactly how brain death is to be determined.

Clear guidelines for brain death diagnosis
Actually, there are clear guidelines for a brain death diagnosis in Germany. Among other things, it should include the fact that two qualified physicians independently of each other make the diagnosis and must agree, as the SZ reported. Furthermore, all circumstances should be excluded, which only numb the brain like medication, coma, too low body temperature or poisoning. There are currently around 11,000 seriously ill patients nationwide waiting for a donor organ that could possibly save their lives. It is to be hoped that the current news about the case in Northern Germany does not raise serious doubts about organ donations among potential donors. In the past there had been a huge drop in donor numbers due to transplant scandals. (Ad)