Hanneke Hagenaars, a transplant co-ordinator for deceased organ donors in the Netherlands, speaks about her liaison work with soon-to-be-bereaved families.
When I started 15 years ago, they waited until patients were declared brain dead before they asked the family about possible organ donation. Now the doctor in charge asks the question when they know treatment is no longer possible.
The person may have come into the emergency room with extensive brain damage after trauma caused by accident and the CT scan has already revealed no treatment is possible. Then the family [partner and/or blood relatives] is asked.
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