Many people were crouched along the rows of carrots. Beside one group, a small boy and a dog were playing happily despite the miserable conditions. The child would throw a stick and the scruffy hound would retrieve it, unmindful of the dirt and grime. As we watched this scene, the use of the words harvest and retrieve became very clear. They apply to farmers and dogs and have no place in the world of organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
Farmers harvest without regard for cleanliness.
Timing and weather dictate their work. Contrary to this, surgeons demand sterile conditions. These are absolute necessities as they perform the delicate procedures of explantation and implantation . No dirty instruments. Several years ago, donor families requested UNOS to pass a resolution to eliminate these insensitive and disrespectful words, harvest and retrieve, from the transplant vocuabulary.