Danny_xxxx

My letter to HRSA administrator Thomas Engels yesterday also pointed out that the organ donor dot gov website’s glossary definition of donation after “circulatory death” (DCD) is incorrect. Here’s their faulty definition and why it is wrong: Circulatory Death "Occurs when a person's heart stops and cannot be resuscitated. Just like brain death, there is no recovery from circulatory death (also known as cardiac death)." This definition is also incorrect, because donation after "circulatory death" (DCD) occurs in people who could still be resuscitated, but have decided not to be resuscitated (they have a DNR, or “do not resuscitate”status). Thus, they WILL NOT be resuscitated, even though they could be resuscitated. These people are taken to the operating room, removed from life support, and after they become pulseless, a mere 2-5 minutes are allowed to elapse before organ procurement begins. It is well-documented that people are routinely resuscitated after just 2-5 minutes of pulselessness, and people have auto-resuscitated after up to 10 minutes of cardiac arrest with full recovery. If you could still be resuscitated, you were never dead. Continuing to allow DCD organ procurement after just a 2–5-minute wait period guarantees that more cases of people having beating hearts when their chests are opened for organ procurement (like Misty Hawkins, whose case was reported in the New York Times) will occur. Misty Hawkins' case and those of others like her show that there has been recovery from "circulatory death,” and that your definition above is wrong and misleading. The faulty information on HRSA’s website is contributing to the lack of informed consent that is destroying public trust in the realm of organ donation and needs to be amended.