Be Assured! MTN's Best Practices for Donor Heroes

In recent months, stories in the national media about organ donation and transplantation, patient safety incidents during organ recoveries, people removing themselves from the registry, Congressional hearings and lawsuits have felt overwhelming, but Midwest Transplant Network knows that every hospital partner is focused on doing the very best for every patient and family we serve together, and MTN supports your work.

Please be assured that MTN is always focused on ethical best practices in both business and clinical care for donor heroes and donor hero families.

• MTN is among the top 10 organ procurement organizations in the nation, ranking No. 4 in organ donation and No. 7 in transplantation rates based on donor eligibility.

• MTN is classified as a Tier 1A OPO, a top-rating by CMS based on the metrics established for all organ procurement organizations.

• MTN has routine third-party audits for regulatory compliance and is very confident that financial billing practices are sound.

• OPOs have shown 14 years of consecutive growth in organ donation across the U.S.

• Organ donation is highly regulated by state and federal agencies to maintain strict standards of safety and accountability throughout the process. MTN’s policies ensure we are practicing in the safest manner.

Why is this important to hospital partners?

Organ donation is a sacred gift. Midwest Transplant Network takes very seriously any claims that erode public trust in the system. Our standardized best practices ensure safe, ethical and transparent care to donor heroes, donor hero families and hospital partners.

MTN’s best practices acknowledge:

• The hospital is solely responsible for caring for patients prior to them being declared deceased, either by neurological criteria or circulatory death.

• The hospital staff and family make the difficult decision to transition to palliative, compassionate end-of-life care. MTN defers to their expertise.

• The hospital directs all comfort, palliative care and medications given at end of life and declares death, not MTN.

• MTN’s donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors have an arterial line placed that shows the patient’s heartbeat, or lack thereof, on a monitor at the donor hero’s bedside for everyone to see.

• In donation after circulatory death (DCD), a 5-minute observation period occurs after death is declared to ensure the heart doesn’t restart. A triple check at the 5-minute mark occurs by hospital, OPO and transplant center staff and only after confirmation of asystole can organ recovery begin.

• In MTN’s service area, donor heroes are always declared dead PRIOR to ever being taken into the operating room. This important differentiating process allows the family and hospital staff to be present for the withdrawal of ventilatory support and for the pronouncement of death.

• When there is concern that an overdose had a part in a donor hero’s death, MTN requires a brain blood flow scan be performed if death is declared prior to a 72-hour observation period after admission to the hospital.

If you have questions, please talk to your MTN Hospital Services Coordinator. They are knowledgeable and open to having conversations about concerns.

Thank you for being dedicated to the mission of saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation. Together, we give hope and share life with the patients and families we serve.