Health: FDP in the Bundestag: expand the definition of death for organ donation

The FDP in the Bundestag wants to expand the definition of death as a prerequisite for organ donation. In the future, cardiovascular arrest should also be the basis for a self-determined removal of organs – until now, brain death had to be proven. This could further increase the number of donors, said right-wing politician Katrin Helling-Plahr to “Welt”. At the same time, “the individual right to self-determination is also taken into account in connection with one’s own death”.

According to the report, a corresponding position paper will be decided by the parliamentary group this Tuesday. Potential donors should then be able to record their wishes in the organ donation register or on organ donation cards using an additional, optional field explicitly provided for this purpose.

Brain death is more difficult to determine

“From a medical perspective, there is no gold standard for explaining death,” said Andrew Ullmann, health policy spokesman for the parliamentary group and university professor in Würzburg, to “Welt”. Death after a prolonged cardiac arrest is equivalent to brain death. “A key difference, however, is that cardiac death is easier but still certain to determine.” The effort involved in determining brain death is immense and thus limits the number of potential donors from the outset.

More organs such as kidneys, livers and hearts for seriously ill patients have been urgently needed for years. Last year, 965 people gave up one or more organs for others after their death, according to the coordinating German Organ Transplantation Foundation. At the same time, 8,400 people were on waiting lists. In order for donations to even be considered, two specialists must independently determine that a deceased person is brain dead.