The coinciding of the rising death toll of drug-related deaths and an increase in the organ donor population is “a silver lining to what is absolutely tragic,” Alexandra Glazier, president of the New England Organ Bank, told U.S. News & World Report.
According to Organ Procurement and Transplant Network data, 848 organ donors died of drug intoxication in 2015, the Chicago Tribune reported. Organ donors overall increased by 5 percent from 2014 to 2015.
“The increase in donors in the past year is pretty substantial and not really anticipated,” said David Klassen, MD, CMO of the United Network for Organ Sharing. “A significant part of it can be explained by the drug overdoses as contributing to it, but not all of it. There’s a lot of effort in the transplant community to increase donation and awareness of seeking every last donor and try[ing] to be as efficient as possible.”
Now, one of 11 organ donors has died of a drug overdose, government data found. Since 2000, the rate of drug overdose deaths has increased by 137 percent, according to the CDC. Abuse of prescription pain relievers and heroin has driven much of the increases, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“It’s a horrible situation,” Dr. Klassen told the Chicago Tribune. “But the transplant donation is a way of potentially salvaging some good out of an awful situation.”
The increase in organ transplants from drug overdose victims has raised safety questions among some, but organs from drug users have been deemed acceptable for decades, according to the report. Such donors are categorized as “high-risk” because of their behavioral history. Recipients must give specific consent to receive transplants from high-risk donors, U.S. Public Health Service guidelines stipulate.
Organ donors go are screened for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. In addition to these tests, high-risk donors are subject to additional scrutiny.
“Truthfully, people who are dying of drug overdoses are young and tend to be otherwise healthy,” Dr. Klassen said, according to the report. “In many ways, they are … potentially excellent donors, from an organ quality standpoint.” While long-term drug use can impact cardiac function or the kidneys, “those medical factors are assessed very carefully,” Dr. Klassen added.
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