Bring out your dead,,,, Bring out your dead!

[genlock]

MYFOXNY.COM - It might sound a little disturbing to some people but a new pilot program will attempt to recover kidneys from people who die at home in Manhattan.

A team of organ specialists will have about 20-minutes after a cardiac-arrest patient is declared dead to arrive at the home, check a donor registry, determine medical eligibility, obtain a family member's consent and get the person into a specialized ambulance.

A special team will monitor 9-1-1 calls about people in danger of dying and they will travel directly to a person's home without being summoned.

The program is being launched Wednesday. It could eventually lead to thousands more organs donated each year. But the five-month trial, a collaboration between Bellevue Hospital and New York City's police and fire departments, could be declared a success without a single organ being recovered, organizers say.

It's being called the Organ Donation Unit. It is being funded by a $1.5 million grant from the U. S. Department of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA),

The team — composed of two EMTs, an organ donor family services specialist and a Bellevue emergency physician — will interact with grieving and shocked family members in the limited time available before it is too late to use a person's organs. A police detective will arrive at the scene before the team to make sure there's nothing about the death that warrants a criminal investigation.

Donors will need to be between the ages of 18 and 60 who die of heart attacks. The trial will only take place in Manhattan. Only kidneys will be harvested in the trial program. The only organs that can be recovered from deceased individuals who die from cardiac arrest are kidneys and livers.

The project is "very, very modest but has the potential to prove a concept that could be revolutionary," said Dr. Lewis Goldfrank, director of emergency services at Bellevue Hospital Center.

[Lester]