A brain-dead baby was kept alive on a ventilator so that her kidneys could be donated to an adult recipient.
The donation, which took place in the UK, is the first to involve a ‘beating heart’ donor aged under two months.
The operation was carried out last year at an undisclosed hospital by a team from St James’ Hospital in Leeds and the 4cm organs went to an adult who had been suffering from serious kidney disease.
It is the first time such a donation has been carried out since the rules on ‘beating heart’ donations were changed last year. Prior to the change, there were questions over whether it was possible to confirm if a baby was brain dead or not.
However Dr Paul Murphy, of NHS Blood and Transplant, told The Sun that tests can bow make ‘absolutely certain’ a child is brain-dead.
‘A patient who is brain dead, is dead,’ he said.
‘Organ function will be maintained, while the heart continues to beat, but the term ‘alive’ or ‘dead’ refers to whole bodies. Families understand this.’
The parents of the child made the decision to donate the child’s organs in the hope they would save another person’s life.
Main image: File photo
