There are several reasons. Only a small proportion of people die in a way which makes their organs suitable for transplantation in the hospital, preferably in an intensive care unit, following a road accident or a stroke. Some have not made it clear that they wish to donate their organs when they die, and relatives may be too upset to give permission or doctors too embarrassed to ask.
Ironically, road safety campaigns and improved stroke treatments have helped reduce the supply of organ donors. Yet, success rates for transplant surgery continue to rise. In 1985, six out of 10 people lived a year or more after a heart transplant. By 1997, the figure had risen to 84%. For kidney transplant the figure rose from 70% up to 85% in the same period.
So skilled are the transplant teams that surgeons would operate on older, sicker patients than ever before – if only there were enough human organs to go around. |