Highest-ever rate of family agreement to donate organs in 2015

Of 129 families asked by hospital transplant coordinators for permission to take organs, 77 agreed to give one or more.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Updated: JANUARY 29, 2016 03:35
Long empty hospital corridor (illustrative) (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Long empty hospital corridor (illustrative)
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Last year saw a record in the proportion of families of lower-brain-dead individuals who agreed to donate organs for transplant – 60 percent, according to Israel Transplant and the Health Ministry.
Of 129 families asked by hospital transplant coordinators for permission to take organs, 77 agreed to give one or more.
There were 433 transplant operations from deceased and live donors (174 kidneys; a 28% increase) in 2015. In addition to a variety of internal organs – hearts, livers, lungs, pancreases and kidneys – dozens of bone, tendon and heart valves were transplanted.
According to the latest figures, 668 corneas were donated by families, and 42 burns patients received donated skin from the deceased. As people registered as potential organ donors receive priority for receiving an organ, 32% of those who received organs from the deceased were moved ahead in the queue because there had donor cards from the ADI organization Israel Transplant said on Wednesday that it had 44,000 more potential donors who registered in 2015, making a total of 860,000 in the entire registry.
The number of patients waiting for an organ declined slightly from 1,160 in 2014 to 1,153 in the following year.
Israel Transplant chairman Prof. Rafael Beyar, who is also director-general of Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center, said he was proud of the record year. He praised the grieving families for recognizing the importance of saving lives at their most difficult hour and thanked Israel Transplant professionals and hospital transplant coordinators for their hard work.
Dr. Tamar Ashkenazi, director of Israel Transplant, gave credit to 174 live donors of kidneys who went through a long process of tests and assessment, left their families and work and altruistically gave a kidney to save another person’s life, suffering pain and requiring recovery.