2023-09-29 04:06:02
Par Antoine Sauvetre
Published on 29 Sep 23 at 6:06 See my news Follow L’Orne Hebdo Emilie Souchu, Jessica Attache and Ophélie Ralu, three of the seven members of the organ donation coordination team at the Alençon hospital center (Orne ). ©L’Orne Hebdo
Saturday September 30, 2023, caregivers “leave the hospital” in Alençon (Orne) to talk about organ donation “differently”.
Organ donation: all donors, all recipients
Before Doti’s Run, a 5 km run-walk in the city center to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation, Ophélie Ralu, nurse coordinator at the Alençon-Mamers Intercommunal Hospital Center (Chicam), dissects the truth from the false on organ donation.
I don’t have any donor cards. Can organs be harvested from me?
Oui.
“We are all potentially organ donors since the law recognizes the principle of presumed consent”, in force since 1976 in France.
There is no minimum or maximum age for organ donation just as there is no age for receiving one.
Ophélie Ralu, nurse coordinator at Alençon hospital
“The donor card disappeared, because it suggested that, without a card, a person was not a donor. »
Children are also concerned, “but both parents sign, whatever happens, a permission to operate, until their child reaches the age of majority. »
If the card no longer exists, my organs can be harvested without my consent or that of my loved ones.
It’s wrong.
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“The aim of the support and discussion with relatives is to find out if the patient had discussed with them the possibility of donating his organs. Initially, loved ones may oppose it, but above all they say no to death, and this is normal as the pain is so strong.
Our job is to refocus the dialogue on the wishes of the deceased person, without judgment and not to make them change their mind, but to put the wishes of the deceased at the heart of the reflection.
Ophélie Ralu, nurse coordinator at Alençon hospital
“If it’s no, it’s no, but in the end, opposition from loved ones to the wishes of the deceased is rare. »
Doti’s turns the city blue
Raise awareness about organ and tissue donation. This is the objective of the organizers of the activities and the 5 km run/walk, the Dotis’Run, which will enliven the Parc des Promenades and the streets of Alençon, Saturday September 30.
Participants will be offered a colored t-shirt to “put the city in blue in order to challenge” passers-by.
On the program: free entertainment at the Dotis village in the promenade park from 1:30 p.m. (babygym, mini farm, laser shooting, inflatable games, circus workshop, simulated cardiac massage, blood donation, firefighter workshop, etc.). Zumba party at 2:30 p.m. Departure from the Dotis’Kids at 3:30 p.m. Warm-up with music at 3:50 p.m. Departure from the Dotis’Run at 4 p.m. Raffle and closing at 5:30 p.m. Race prices: €6.
For people wishing to donate their organs, “it is possible to make an advance directive and write down your wishes on a signed paper which you keep in your wallet or which you send to a loved one, friend or member of the family. »
“If you do not wish to donate your organs, it is however essential to register on the National Registry of Refusals (RNR), a form to send to thebiomedicine agency or to be completed freely on the internet. A child can also register on this register from the age of 13. »
I am a smoker. My uncle had alcohol problems. My mother has diabetes. My grandfather is 90 years old. Are we, despite everything, concerned by organ donation?
Oui !
With very rare exceptions, there are no contraindications for donating organs.
“The consumption of tobacco or alcohol, while it may limit the removal of certain organs, does not prevent the removal of others. »
Finally, no one is “too old” to give. “It is at the hospital that we carry out the examinations (blood tests, imaging, medical records) to find out how the organs are aging and whether there have been previous illnesses. Only this thorough examination allows us to know if the organs are healthy for transplant. »
The Norman dean of organ donation was 92 years old. His donation helped save three lives.
5 494
In 2022, 1,694 donors, whose average age is 57 years, made it possible to carry out 5,494 transplants in France. This is less than in 2018 (5,806) and 2019 (5,901), but more than in 2020 (4,421) and 2021 (5,276), two years when Covid, this “unknown virus”, blocked numerous transplants. In Orne, around 25 organ transplants are carried out each year for around fifteen brain deaths reported. Around 130 cornea and 15 epidermis transplants have also been recorded in the department. As of January 1, 2023, nearly 11,000 patients were on the waiting list for an immediate organ transplant. There remains 33% opposition to organ donation.
To harvest organs, patients are “unplugged” before they die.
This is false, of course!
A patient from whom organs can be removed is brain dead. “This is the first step in the process. We have to determine whether the patient is indeed brain dead, which obviously takes a lot of time and is very regulated by the law. »
Death by brain death remains unknown. For people, only heart failure causes death. The stage of explanations to loved ones is therefore as essential as it is complex.
I am willing to donate my liver, but not my heart. So I cannot be a donor.
Faux.
We can oppose the donation of a single organ, for example the heart for the symbolism, but agree to the rest, organs or tissues.
“The choice is not final either. You can register on the register and unsubscribe if you change your mind. »
They can harvest all my organs.
Fake. “When we talk about organ transplants, we talk about vital organs. The heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, intestines…
Only vital organs are transplanted. And the word vital means that, without a transplant, people die.
Conversely, “we do not transplant non-vital organs, such as a gallbladder or a spleen, because there is no benefit since we can live without it”.
Tissue transplantation also saves lives.
TRUE.
This is particularly the case for skin grafts. “As severe burn victims have more than 70% of their body surface burned, their skin cannot regenerate on its own. » We can also graft “bones, tendons, vessels, veins… There is a very wide range of graftable tissues”.
The most common is the cornea, this transparent part which covers the eye and which “allows the transplant recipient to regain clear vision”. This can also concern everyday accidents: “a pruner who gets a branch in the eye, a splash of chemicals, broken glass…”
The particularity of tissue sampling is that, unlike organ donation which only concerns brain dead patients, it concerns all deceased people and regardless of the cause.
French hospitals have “reserves” of harvested organs.
Alas no.
Organs must be transplanted between 4 and 6 hours after collection, including transport. It’s extremely fast.
“Tissues, on the other hand, can be preserved much longer thanks to preservation and freezing systems. »
Transplants are a bit of a lottery. You never know if someone will need an organ removed.
No way.
Whatever is taken is grafted. If a viable organ is removed, a compatible recipient is waiting somewhere.
Today, the success rate is close to 100%. “If the transplant process is initiated, it is because it will work. We are therefore sure that by donating an organ, it will save someone else’s life. »
When a donor and a recipient are compatible, a race against time begins.
TRUE.
Generally, only 36 hours separate the brain death of the donor and the end of the transplant on the recipient. However, there are many steps to take. History research, organ examinations, etc. The patient’s file is particularly detailed.
“We then discuss the possibility of organ donation with loved ones. We obviously cannot talk about it straight away with the families who are in a state of shock since these are sudden deaths”: head trauma, stroke or hemorrhagic accidents. “Brain deaths represent only 1% of hospital deaths. »
The family of the deceased has several days to reflect.
Unfortunately no…
Decision-making must be rapid, between one and two hours, because the patient’s brain is dead and this brain is the conductor. In a state of brain death, everything can stop at any moment.
The green light from relatives triggers a winding procedure.
“We then present the file to the biomedicine agency which regulates donations. The patient inherits a crystal number, that is to say anonymous, and the biomedicine agency offers the file to surgeons waiting for organs for their patient. The objective is to link needs with the closest compatibility: age, blood group, morphology. »
When a compatible recipient is found, the transplant surgeon travels to the hospital where the deceased is located to carry out the harvest himself, which can last between 6 hours and 12 hours.
As with a donation to science, the body of the deceased is never returned to the family.
False, archfalse!
The family can accompany the deceased to the operating room and their body always remains visible after the samples have been taken. It is neither deformed nor damaged. That the body looks the same after the operation is our priority.
“If the purpose of donating to science is research, the ultimate goal of organ donation is to save lives. » And one does not prevent the other: “it is not because we donate our organs that we cannot donate our body to science. »
Another difference is that “organ donation is free while donation to science requires payment”.
I would like to offer, during my lifetime, a kidney to a stranger.
It’s impossible.
If it is possible to remove certain organs from a patient who is still alive (a kidney, but also part of the liver or one of the five lung lobes), this is only possible “within very close family and friendly circles that “it must be proven” in order to avoid possible financial pressure or trafficking.
“It’s a very different procedure that takes at least two years. » Only university hospitals and hospitals in Paris carry out this type of operation.
Coordination of organ donations at Chic Alençon-Mamers. 02 33 32 31 86 or [email protected] or dondorganes.fr
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