Breaking the organ donor taboo

[okarol]

Breaking the organ donor taboo
By Malcolm Brabant
BBC News

Despite having the worst road accident records in Europe, Greece has the lowest rate of organ donations on the continent, due to ignorance, taboos, and religious beliefs.

But in the past month, there has been a surge of Greeks embracing the concept of donations, following the generosity of an Australian father called Oliver Zammit.

Mr Zammit flew to Greece after his 20-year-old son, Doujon, was beaten to a pulp by nightclub bouncers on the island of Mykonos.

Doujon was pronounced brain dead and Mr Zammit faced the agony of turning off his son's life support machine.

His next decision was to allow the young man's organs to be used for transplant operations, which saved the lives of four Greek citizens.

Costas Gribilas, a 31-year-old television reporter, who had spent two months on a waiting list, was the recipient of Doujon's heart.

One month after surgery, Mr Gribilas has now spoken publicly for the first time.

"They (the Zammits) are my second family. I am going to be in touch with them for the rest of my life.

Last words

"I am going to follow the last words of Oliver, Doujon's father that Doujon went to heaven without his organs. That's what I believe and that's what we all have to believe, that you don't need your organs to go to heaven."

Professor Petros Alivazatos, the surgeon who performed the transplant operation, echoes the sentiments.

"I'm overwhelmed. I just can't believe that this man had the courage.

"I mean that's the real Christian example of someone who turns around and becomes the benefactor of those who killed his child - the Greeks at large - because as a society we are responsible."

Professor Alivazatos is hoping that the example shown by Mr Zammit will have a similar impact as the selflessness displayed by an American tourist, Reg Green, in Southern Italy in 1994.

   I want to live for the moment. Life means living for the moment
Costas Gribilas

Mr Green's seven-year-old son Nicholas was asleep in the family's car while they were on holiday and he was killed by a stray bullet fired during an attempted robbery.

Mr Green agreed to donate Nicholas' organs and helped save the lives of seven sick Italians.

At the time, Italy was similar to the Greece, with a very low rate of organ donations.

But following the "Nicholas effect," the number of organs available for transplant tripled.

Professor Alivazatos, of the Onassis Cardiac Unit, says the Greek government must act swiftly to make the most of the "Doujon effect," or the chance will be lost.

During one recent public holiday weekend, more than 20 people were killed in road accidents, yet Professor Alivazatos and his fellow surgeons were not able to harvest one single organ.

"This case has shaken the environment, but I don't know how long the Doujon effect will last.

"Is it going to be a temporary effect based just on emotion, or will the state intervene and increase the numbers of organ donation by using some muscle, and creating some real infrastructure?"

He believes there must be a public awareness campaign.

And he says that doctors in intensive care units must be given incentives to broach the delicate subject of organ donations with the relatives of fatally injured patients.

Religious

Some doctors in this devout Orthodox Christian nation hold strong religious beliefs and disapprove of transplants, despite the country's late spiritual leader, Archbishop Christodoulos, being prepared to undergo a liver transplant, before he succumbed to cancer last year.

Costas Gribilas says his religious beliefs have been strengthened since the operation.

In order to honour the man who saved his life, Mr Gribilas has made a commitment to live life to the full.

"I want to live for the moment. Life means living for the moment. That's the lesson I have learned from this situation."

Mr Gribilas' wife Poppi said: "Doujon was a donor, and his parents respected his wishes. They knew that was what he wanted.

"I thank the parents and Doujon for saving Costas' life.

"It's given Costas a second chance at life. We can start planning our future together and living a normal life, a normal healthy life, living a life that everyone wants to live without complications.

"Once you are so close to the other side, you appreciate the little things ? a walk in the park, the smell of flowers, the taste of food, the things that we take for granted."

As Mr and Mrs Gribilas plan their future, there are nine patients in the Onassis Heart Centre, waiting for transplants. Six of them are reliant on artificial hearts, which can keep them alive for up to two years.

But what they really need is for someone to suffer a tragedy, and for a relative with the magnanimity to create life out of death.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7598743.stm

Published: 2008/09/04 16:14:02 GMT