3 Ways To Transform How the Organ Donation Process Works To Save Lives

Everything about organ transplants is hard. There are a few things that could make the entire process easier and help save more lives, as an article from The Walrus explores. The first is governments switching to a presumed opt-in for organ donation, which means someone would need to specifically opt out of donating their organs ... otherwise authorities can assume they are willing donors. That move alone could lead to an estimated increase of 20% to 30% of organs donated.

A second solution comes from an idea two doctors had to build a machine that operates like a portable human body that you can "plug" an organ into and it will recycle blood through it to keep that organ viable longer, allowing more time for transport. Finally, a new machine can help to "revive" a lung that was otherwise deemed unfit for transplant. Testing on a dozen rejected lungs resulted in a stunning 100% success rate in repairing each of the lungs enough for transplantation.

Given the long transplant waiting list and the life or death situations typically involved, a combination of these three moves has the potential to transform organ transplanting in Canada ... and potentially provide a model for how to do the same across the rest of the world.