Unfortunately, one of my close family friends passed away. He signed up to be an organ donor so thankfully, he will be helping some people live. However, his wife found out that he died because someone called his home asking about/ for his organs. Naturally, she was confused and the potential recipient told her to call the hospital and then they told her. But still. How is this allowed to happen and how do they get access to that info? I don’t know anything about this topic, but surely people who have lost loved ones should not find out about deaths this way. There should be a safeguard against this. The potential recipient called less than half an hour after he died apparently and the hospital didn’t get a chance to call.
I’m sorry about this death.
His wife didn’t KNOW he was in the hospital? Seems odd to me that she would not have been more in the loop if he were near death.
Didn’t the hospital call the wife to let her know her loved one was nearing death? That is what happens around here.
But agree that no one should find out about a loved ones death via an organ donation recipient…although these are very time sensitive…and if one is an organ donor, they act quickly to honor the wishes.
That is absolutely the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of. Something went very very wrong there.
Seems like the organ donation organizations wanted to move quickly (understandably, due to the limited shelf life of donated organs), but the hospital was otherwise tardy in notifying the next of kin.
If due to a motor vehicle crash or other sudden trauma, there may not be advance notice. Also, conditions that result in long hospital stays before death are often those which render organs unusable (no one wants an organ from a cancer patient, for example).
I’ve worked in a trauma unit where organ donation was a high priority. However, sensitivity is ALWAYS supposed to be paramount and a wife should never receive a donation solicitation before being notified of brain death/cardiac death.
This doesn’t sound right. How would the potential recipient know the wife’s name and phone number? Why would they even be calling her? There would be no need to ask her about the organ donation if he had “signed up to be an organ donor.”
How would the potential recipient even get the donors name & number? I would be livid. It also doesnt make sense.
Im sorry for your loss.
In my experience the next of kin is consulted when it gets to the point where there is no hope, before a death.
“How is this allowed to happen and how do they get access to that info?”
this was an aberration in Hospital procedures and she needs to report it [asap] to the hospital CEO so that it NEVER happens again!!
I’m sorry for your and her loss.
@ucbalumnus This made me remember… when my mother passed away over 20 years ago after a long fight with cancer, we were approached immediately about the donation of certain tissue. Tissue “donation” seems to be a big thing (and not just fetal tissue)…I believe there’s a lot of money to be made. I remember stories about morticians doing some illegal/immoral things too. Sorry for your friend, @CaliCash . Things like this should never happen.
I have a close family member who received an organ. I was with the recipient (lol, sorry) the entire time. He nor his family never knew where or whom his organ came from. He wasn’t even privy to any personal information except that an organ MIGHT be available, I don’t even think we knew what city the donor was in. Before the operation, we weren’t even sure if it would happen, there are so many things that have to happen and tests that had to be run.
The organ donation center or whatever it’s called handled everything, the patient receiving the organs knows nothing. Nothing and even after the operation knows very little in the days after.
Even if a patient needing an organ would know that there was a possible donor available, they have no idea if they would be receiving that patients organs.
Sorry, I feel very strongly about this. Also if someone was being taken off life support, the family would be involved with that decision and lots of discussion and I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t be at the hospital when it happened.
Obviously the organ donation people shouldn’t be calling the survivors before they are aware of the patient’s death. This was either a massive screw-up or there is more information we don’t know.
It sounds like it wasn’t the organ recipient who called, but the organ donation coordinator. I can even see this happening if the donor was brought to the hospital alive but with a donor card, and the coordinator was just contacting the family to set the donation up. They are people. Timing mistakes are made.
I have never heard of an organ recipient even being given the donor’s name or contact info. This story sounds very strange to me. The donation coordinator always, in our experience, has this discussion face to face with the family. For some organs and tissue donations, the discussion and decisions have to be made quickly, and are often made when the end is near, but again, I’ve never heard of a discussion like this being done by phone. Wouldn’t the family be at the hospital?
Was it the organ recipient who called…or was it te coordinating agency for the transplant. Big difference.
If the person was an organ donor, the agency was doing its due diligence in making sure the wishes of the donor were honored.
The actual recipient should not have the number of the donors family.
But I still think it odd that the wife had no idea about her husband’s impending death. Was this a sudden thing like a car accident?
It was completely out of the blue. I think he had a seizure and then it led to stroke. Something like that. Not 100% sure. But it shocked everyone.
Maybe an organization notified her instead of a potential recepient. But someone associated with organ transplants called about his organs. I don’t wanna ask my mom because he was like a dad to her and I don’t wanna make her cry again.
But I think that the two parties need to work in sync. I can’t imagine a worse way to find about a death. He left for work one day and never came home. Instead of a trained professional notifying his wife, she found out from someone trying to get parts of his body. And I get that it’s time sensitive. But they definitely need more coordination. Is there anyone to even blame for this? But I’m really concerned about why his info would be relayed to anyone. Surely that is a breach of privacy even though he passed?
If all this happened in one day, it seems VERY odd.
@calicash It probably is not a breach. He probably has organ donor on his license, which is why his info was passed.
Inexcusable mixup though…the hospital should have called first to tell her or bring her to the hospital. I’m sorry for your loss. Hugs to your mom.
Someone’s death is a matter of public record, isn’t it? So I don’t think there a privacy iissue.
But yes, the hospital or someone really screwed up.
“Someone’s death is a matter of public record, isn’t it? So I don’t think there a privacy iissue.”
Not until the death certificate is issued and the death is registered, as I understand. In this case, I doubt it happened.
So sorry to hear that your mom not only lost her loved one but also learned of his death through such inexcusable mixup.