Increasingly, transplant surgeons must initiate a tough conversation: explaining to patients what it means to accept an organ from a person who died from a drug overdose or engaged in other risky behaviors.
Increasingly, transplant surgeons must initiate a tough conversation: explaining to patients what it means to accept an organ from a person who died from a drug overdose or engaged in other risky behaviors.
Organ donors who recently injected drugs, as well those who were incarcerated or had sex for drugs or money, are among a growing group of people classified as being at “increased risk” of an infectious disease such as hepatitis C or HIV.
But the label may not be doing patients any favors.
National organ transplant numbers show the United States Public Health Service’s increased risk of infection label (PHS-IR) is associated with hundreds of available organs going unused each year. Despite the very low risk of disease transmission, patients in need are saying no to these organs.
Read more at Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan
