It is the doctors' job to ask, and families will not be unfairly distressed. In the past we haven't pursued that avenue. We've said that's their right and leave it at that. What we're doing now is still respecting that decision, but wanting to know why. People have enough to cope with when their wife, husband or child is in intensive care.
Most people are on the mend when they leave intensive care units.
But a significant proportion don't leave. Of these, some will be potential organ donors because it is their brains that are injured - perhaps from a stroke, maybe in a car accident. One of the aims of the South Australian program is to make sure all of these potential donors are identified. That's the first step, and since the program started the number has jumped from 48 a year to 66 for 1996-97. Next, the medical donor coordinator, Young, is called in to introduce himself to the family - although at this stage, with the patient alive, no mention is made of organ donation.