An I.C.U. doctor helps us better understand brain death.
 | By Alexandra Sifferlin Senior Staff Editor, Opinion |
The United States recently recorded a milestone of one million organ transplants since 1954, when the first successful U.S. transplant took place. Many people recognize the value organ transplants have provided over the decades, but few may understand how the process works from the perspective of physicians in intensive care units. |
Daniela Lamas, an I.C.U. doctor, writes in a guest essay for Times Opinion this week about what happens after brain death, when the body is prepared for organ donation. She was inspired by what she felt was some confusing language in the way that the actress Anne Heche's death was reported. "The headlines might make you think that Anne Heche died twice. First on a Friday, when the actress was declared brain-dead. And then again on a Sunday, when her body was disconnected from machines so that her organs could be donated," Lamas writes. |
She explains that there can be a "lack of understanding about what happens in that liminal space between the declaration of brain death and when a heart stops beating." |
In her essay, Lamas writes how, for a physician, it can feel complicated to "perform the rituals of critical care on deceased patients so that their organs can go to someone else." |
Ultimately, she says, she has learned a lot about what a gift an organ is. "Maybe it's because I have cared for enough transplant recipients, and for those who died waiting for organs, that I know how remarkable it is to be able to donate," she writes. The end of a life in the I.C.U., she argues, is often tragic but also a moment when "loss turns to hope, when a stranger gets a second chance at life." |
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