Transplant recipient declared brain dead

[PamOKW]

I heard today that the reason the organs were not donated was because the family, understandably, wants an autopsy.

I cannot believe that Duke has now compounded this problem by taking Jesica off of life support with her parents' permission. They were in the process of obtaining a second opinion on the brain scans when they found out she had been taken off life support. I sincerely hope this doesn't mean they weren't by her side when she died. I would be very reluctant to use Duke Medical Center until this is all sorted out.

I don't want to get into the middle of this "discussion" of the medical profession but I guess I will put in my $.02.

In our own hospital, I have had wonderful, intelligent dedicated doctors, nurses, and aides who take real pride in their work and see their patients as valuable humans. At this same hospital, I have had staff who can be cold but you can still see they are taking their jobs seriously. I have also had staff who have scared me half to death to leave them alone with my parents when they aren't able to question medication or ask for help. I'm not sure whether these people don't know or don't care what they are doing.

So, a big thank you to the dedicated folks. To those who are angry about their jobs and feel disrespected, if it's effecting your care of patients, consider taking some time off to pursue some "hands off" work until you can decide what you really want to do.

 

[BethR]

The last time that we had to deal with the medical community, when our DD Ann had a lump removed from her breast, we had such WONDERFUL service! From the nurses, to the nurse anestisthist, to the doctors, to the people checking her in and out - everyone was so very kind and caring. AND careful! I don't know how many times her ID bracelet was checked and how many times she had to tell someone that she was allergic to Sulfas. So there are many check points in place to prevent unnecessary mistakes - even for drug allergies. It is too bad that there were not so many checkpoints for organ compatibility.

I read last Wednesday that at Duke, until the mistake was made with Jessica, that the ONLY check for the blood type of organ was one - with the transplanting surgeon. (someone PLEASE correct me if I am wrong - I read this in an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.) Already this protocol has been changed to having 3 different people check the organ's blood type.

And according to the same article, the surgeons DID know almost immediately in the OR that the organs were mismatched. Jesica showed signs of rejections immediately, but they were at the point of no return, the organs had to stay in place. They were hoping against hope that anti-rejection drugs would stop any rejection problems. Of course, they did not.

It is all so very, very sad.