The study was led by Frank Sacks, associate professor of medicine. The Brigham and Women researchers presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology. A study by Harvard School of Public Health researchers concluded that 5,600 lives could be saved each year if hospitals improved their practices related to organ-donation requests and identification of suitable donors. The HSPH scientists estimate that the annual potential donor pool in the United States is 13,700 people. However, only one-third become donors.
Many families decide against donation.
But the HSPH researchers estimate that 27 percent of potential donors were lost because health professionals failed either to identify potential donors or did not ask the families about donation. Larger hospitals did no better than smaller hospitals in handling donation cases. The researchers also found that rates of donation declined sharply with increasing age. The study found that hospitals overlooked a majority of the potential donors who were more than 50 years old. The researchers published their findings in the March issue of Critical Care Medicine.