This incident had to be a little shocking for the people involved; a 45 year old man from Paris, France had a massive heart attack. His heart had stopped working for over an hour and a half.
It appears that emergency personel tried to revive him but wasn’t having great results. They sent him on to a hospital where they continued the effort only to decide he was gone. Then, just as he was being prepped for an organ donation…his heart began to jump back into action. What a surprise for the surgeons involved in prepping him for the organ donation procedure! It was a miracle for the 45 year old man; sad for those on the waiting list for the donated organs, though.
Organ donation is a wonderful thing…it has the power to save and improve the lives of so many people. However, i think people do actually get concerned about how the medical profession decides that a person is truly dead, before they proceed with retrieving an organ from a donor.
If a person has decided to become an organ donor; the best thing they can do is document it and make sure that the next of kin is aware of their wishes. If a person has strong feelings on the matter, it is very important that they make it clear to family and friends about their decision; relieving the next of kin from the stress of having to make that decision. www.organdonor.gov/ or www.organtransplants.org/ or www.donatelife.net/ .
There are those who argue about the ethics involved in organ donation; waiting lists, costs, black market organs, testing of the health of the donors, safety of medical flight transportation of organs; and some of those arguments are valid…however, no-one can deny the impact on the lives of those who give and those who receive. There are complex layers of emotions involved.
I think that when people consider organ donation, this is one of the biggest fears that they face…what if they aren’t really dead? I am sure there is a definate protocol involved to insure that this kind of situation is avoided; however, in this case, i sort of imagined myself in that situation with my slightly twisted sense of humor.
I can just see it; coming to on the surgery table…saying, “Excuse me, don’t touch that. I still have a need for that particular body part!” LOL
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