What Happens to Organs When Time Runs Out? And Other Donation Questions from Stu

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What Happens to Organs When Time Runs Out? And Other Donation Questions from Students
Lifeline of Ohio Community Educator Sara Brown visited an Athens Middle School classroom recently to educate the students about the facts and myths surrounding organ, eye and tissue donation. The students had insightful questions after Sara’s presentation. She answers them in this blog post as a benefit to all readers.



Sara Brown and Honey Bee say “yes” to smart student questions about organ donation!
Q: Can you choose to be an organ donor only when you die?

A: Being a registered organ donor, or saying ‘yes’ when you get your drivers license at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, means you are agreeing to donate when you die. People can donate organs while they are living by arranging it with a hospital, such as the Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University. The organs that can be donated while a person is living are: kidney, lobe of the liver, lobe of the lung, part of the small intestine and very rarely, part of the pancreas. A person has to be over 18 years of age to be a living organ donor.

Q: Can you only donate on your driver’s license?

A: You can only join the Ohio Donor Registry if you have an Ohio permit, license or state ID. Talking to your family about your decision to be an organ donor is so important because not everyone has an Ohio ID yet!

Q: Can you choose what organs/tissue can be donated? Do they have to be donated separately or can they be donated together?

A: You can pick what you want to donate by joining the registry online or filling out a paper form. For example, I could go online, register as an organ donor and choose that I only want to donate my heart.

Q: Is there anything happening with brain donation?

A: We can donate our brain for education or research. For example, universities are studying how concussions might affect the brain after a long period of time. They are also looking at issues like autism and Alzheimer’s, too. Usually a person has to set up donating a brain with a research program in advance of their death because it would be considered a special donation. The brain is not something we recover.

Q: What do they do with the organs after time runs out?

A: We do not recover the heart, liver, lungs, pancreas or small intestine from a donor unless the organ has a place to go. We know exactly who will receive that organ before it is recovered. For example, the heart must be transplanted within four to six hours after it is removed from the donor – we don’t recover a heart and then hope to find someone who would take it in four hours. Because kidneys can stay outside the body longer, sometimes they can be recovered before we find the right candidate match. In the case of weather or other emergencies that prevent us from getting the organ to the best candidate, we could pass the organ to a recipient who might not be the best candidate but is still a match and we can physically get it to them.  Otherwise the organ can go to a research institute, or it will be left in the body to be buried with the donor.

Q: Are organs sewn together after donation or will the tissue grow together?

A: When an organ is transplanted, it is sewn into place by sewing the blood vessels that go to it. This gives the organ the blood it needs to work in the recipient (the person who got the organ) and holds it in place. The vessels will heal and the stitches dissolve. Cool stuff, right?

Q: Is the heart kept pumping while it’s waiting to be donated?

A: Yes, the ventilator giving the heart oxygen allows it to keep beating. This is important because if it stopped pumping, the organs wouldn’t get oxygen, which they need to work correctly. This does NOT mean the person is alive. Their organs are working on a machine. In fact, even if they kept a brain dead person on a ventilator, their organs would eventually shut down because of their death. This makes timing the organ recovery so important.

Q: Do you have to die to have your corneas donated?

A: Yes, a person can die of brain death or cardiac death (this means the heart stops beating) and donate cornea. We do not take cornea from someone who is living.

Through the Community Educator program, Lifeline of Ohio visits high school and college classrooms in central and southeast Ohio. If you are teacher or school administrator interested in having a Community Educator come visit your school, please contact Ron Packard, community education manager, at (614) 384-7332 or rpackard@lifelineofohio.org.

http://www.lifelineofohio.org/2013/02/what-happens-to-organs-when-time-runs-out-and-other-donation-questions-from-students/