More organs are being donated after the heart stops, not brain death. Policies are changing too

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The vast majority of organ donations once came from people who were brain-dead. Now they’re increasingly coming from people who died when their heart stopped beating, a major shift that can boost transplants but also raises public confusion, researchers reported Thursday.

What’s called donation after circulatory death, or DCD, jumped dramatically in a short period: It accounted for 49% of all deceased donors in the U.S. last year, up from 2% in 2000.

Technology has helped overcome barriers to using those organs — ways to keep them from deteriorating as the heartbeat winds down — spurring this type of donation at the same time the nation is hunting ways to overcome a dire shortage. More than 100,000 people are on the transplant waiting list and thousands die waiting. Just over 49,000 transplants were performed last year.

But specialists from NYU Langone Health found donation after circulatory death is far more common in some parts of the country than others. That suggests better educating the public and local hospitals about the option could further incre...