Organ donation: willingness yes, donor no

Jens Richter is editor-in-chief at Since July 2020, the doctor and journalist has also been responsible as COO for business operations and the strategic development of

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Donor organs are becoming increasingly scarce in Germany. Seriously ill heart, lung and liver patients in particular wait months for suitable organs - some do not survive the waiting time. However, there is a small glimmer of hope.

For the first time since the big organ donation scandal in 2012, the German Foundation for Organ Donation (DSO) recorded a small increase in the willingness to donate an organ last year. With 736 organ donors from January to October 2015, the number rose by 3.2 percent compared to the previous year. However, the number of organs actually available continued to decrease. While slightly more kidneys (1,284 instead of 1,235) were donated during this period, the numbers for hearts, lungs, livers and pancreas continued to decline.

Heart transplants have reached their lowest point

The German Heart Foundation and the German Society for Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery (DGTHG) are therefore making an urgent appeal to people on the day of organ donation on June 4th to "deal with the subject of organ donation."

"For a seriously ill patient, a transplant is often the only chance for long-term survival," says Prof. Dr. Armin Welz, President of the DGTHG, and points out that up to 60 percent of heart transplant patients are still alive ten years after the procedure. "Many well beyond this period."

According to the central European coordination office for organ transplants, “Eurotransplant”, around 10,000 people in Germany are currently waiting for a donor organ, and 784 need a suitable donor heart. But only 283 heart transplants could actually be performed in Germany in 2015 - as few as it has been for a long time.

Even seriously ill heart patients wait an average of more than three months - a time that many can only survive in the intensive care unit with the help of artificial hearts or cardiac assist devices. Some don't make it.

Many would be willing to donate in principle

According to surveys, more than two thirds of people in Germany would be willing to make their organs available after their death. But many do not communicate their readiness or do not put it down in writing anywhere. An organ donation card carried in the personal papers would give the rescue workers and clinicians the important information.

On its website www.organspende-info.de, the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) answers all the important questions about the requirements and process of organ donation and offers the organ donation card for download or online. (jr)

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