The family of a brain-dead patient who choked on food decided to donate her organs

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The woman’s organs will save more lives PHOTO Archive

The first organ collection from the Sibiu County Emergency Clinical Hospital in 2024 took place on Sunday, April 28, saving several lives. The organs of a 50-year-old patient who had been declared brain dead have been donated according to her family’s wishes.

The patient was brought to the Emergency Department of the hospital on April 21, 2024, intubated and mechanically ventilated, after an incident of mechanical asphyxiation. The woman allegedly choked on food on the terrace of a restaurant in Sibiu.

Initially diagnosed with a severe intracranial hematoma, her condition rapidly deteriorated and doctors declared her brain dead. The family made the decision to donate the patient’s organs to give a chance at life to other people in pain.

Teams of doctors from Bucharest, Cluj and Iași participated in the organ collection process. Liver, kidney, cornea and bone were harvested and rushed to transplant centers in these cities to be transplanted into waiting patients.

“The organ harvesting intervention – liver, kidney, cornea and bone – was carried out on Sunday, April 28, 2024. The team from Bucharest took bone tissue, the doctors from Iasi harvested the liver and cornea, and the team from in Cluj took the kidneys. After the collection, the teams of doctors left urgently to the transplant centers they belong to”, according to a press release sent to SCJU Sibiu.

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The Sibiu County Emergency Clinical Hospital sent its condolences and thanks to the patient’s family for their noble gesture and for the trust placed in this life-saving action. The recent accreditation of the hospital for the identification and declaration of potential donors was essential in carrying out this first organ collection since 2024, according to the decision of the National Transplant Agency.