Donating organs only when dead sure

Star: NILAI: Some doctors are hesitant to remove the life support system of brain dead patients for organ procurement because the proposed amendment to the law, to include the concept of “brain dead,” has not been passed.
Universiti Malaya anaesthesiology and critical care Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Alex Delilkan said a memorandum to the Health Ministry to include the concept of brain dead was submitted in 1998, but until now the amendment to the Human Tissues Act 1974 had not been passed.
He said the Act currently only stated that organs or tissues were allowed to be procured when “life is extinct,” which was vague.
As a result, some doctors were hesitant to remove the ventilator when a person was brain dead due to pressure from relatives who did not understand that the person was actually dead, he said in the forum, Organ Transplant: A Gift of Life, organised by the Students' Representative Council at the Nilai International College on Thursday.
“The issue is how do doctors handle a brain dead person in intensive care unit settings? Some doctors do not remove the life support system even after certifying the patient as brain dead,” he said.
Dr Delilkan said brain dead persons make the best donors and there was a need to define death.
The concept of brain dead had been accepted internationally since the 1980s, he added.
Court of Appeal retired judge Datuk Mahadev Shankar said it was sad that when putting up a law, unless it was political or to do with money, it would be in limbo for a long time.
The draft amendment to the Act was still at the Attorney-General's chamber, said Health Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon after launching Nilai International's Project Humans for Humans.
One reason for the delay was because stakeholders, doctors and lawyers could not agree on certain issues, he said, adding that when the Act was enacted, it referred to cadaveric donors, and there was a need to include living donors but some doctors felt this might lead to organ sale.
“We have to take viewpoints from all parties,” he said.
Currently, there is a mechanism to verify a patient is brain dead, where two specialists are required to confirm the death, he said.
Dr Delilkan said doctors not pulling the plug when a person was brain dead were against medical ethics. It also could cost patients thousands of ringgit daily.
Lee said the main issue in organ donation was not about brain death but about families not giving consent.
Besides enlarging the current 96,000 donor pledges, there is a need to educate donors to inform their family members.
“We may have a big number but the actual harvesting is small because families are not informed and could not make quick decisions,” he added.