CHENNAI: Will doctors be allowed to retrieve vital organs from a patient who is on life support after a cardiac arrest but has been deemed to have no chance of a life? Heart and lung surgeons from across the state on Saturday campaigned for harvesting organ from a patient even before he/she is declared ‘brain dead’ at a scientific and technical meeting organised by the state transplant authority at the multi-speciality hospital on the Omandurar government estate.

Normally, patients who suffer massive cardiac arrest an electrical disorder of the heart when it stops beating are connected to the heart-lung devices such as ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine. “After some time there is clear scientific indication that the heart cannot be revived. Most of these patients have good kidneys and liver that can help someone else,” said senior cardiac surgeon Dr K R Balakrishnan…..Readmore