maid offers a lifeline to people desperate for organs

glioblastoma is a deadly form of brain cancer that also killed the  tragically hip’s gord downie in 2017.

the first in b.c. to be an organ donor after maid

the federal government legalized maid in 2016 to allow people who have a serious, incurable illness, disease or disability to apply for and receive maid if they meet eligibility criteria. yvonne faulkner became the first person in b.c. — and the third in canada — to be an organ donor after maid, which the family did with the help of bc transplant . she donated her lungs, liver, kidneys and corneas.

in canada, about 65 per cent of patients who request maid have cancer, according to the 2021 report by health canada . and while typically, those with cancer can’t donate because of the risks to organ recipients from invasive cancer cells, yvonne’s cancer was completely encapsulated in her brain, her husband says, allowing her to proceed with organ donation where organs and tissues are tested for safe and effective transplant. it’s an end of life choice that makes a difference, transplant experts say. for example, in 2021, 652 patients were removed from the organ transplant waitlist for a medical or other reason, according to the canadian institute for health information , and 38 per cent of them had died while waiting. the institute also reports a total of 2,782 organ transplants were performed in canada in 2021, with six per cent of those from donors who had received maid.

canada is performing the most organ transplants from maid

in fact, a recent international review by dutch researchers, published in the american journal of transplantation , found that of the 286 organ donations after euthanasia identified by the paper in canada, belgium, the netherlands and spain combined, nearly half of them — 136 — were canadian. the paper, which looked at the prevalence and success of the practice in the years leading up to and including 2021, also noted that canada is the only country where maid can be approved by a nurse practitioner as well as a physician.

the first transplant surgery after maid done at uhn

dr. marcelo cypel, surgical director of the ajmera transplant centre at the university health network’s toronto general hospital , is at the forefront of advancing organ donation after maid. his team performed the first transplant surgery after maid that was carried out in the home of the patient, a 48-year-old burlington, ont. man with huntington’s disease, to respect his last wishes. he had debilitating pain and a body that was deteriorating from the fatal condition that had killed his dad, but he was able to donate his lungs.

maid donor organs have better outcomes

in fact, an earlier study that cypel contributed to, published in the american journal of transplantation last june, showed that maid lung transplant recipient outcomes were excellent, recommending that, “maid should be strongly considered for lung transplantation as a way to respect donor wishes while substantially improving outcomes for recipients with end-stage lung disease.”