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Randy Hanzlick, MD
Atlanta, Ga

JAMA. 1995;273(20):1578.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—The recent article by Ms Shafer and colleagues¹ places undue emphasis on medical examiner/coroner (ME/C) denials to organ procurement organizations (OPOs). Cooperation of ME/Cs is obtained in almost 90% of OPO requests. The rate of organ recovery from ME/C cases is 10 times that of non-ME/C cases, with ME/Cs providing more than 50% of all donors. Trend data show that the increase in ME/C approvals was more than twice the increase in denials, and the adjusted data may have been biased toward ME/C organ denial cases due to changes in the OPOs surveyed. Overall organ recovery rates from ME/C and non-ME/C cases are extremely low, yet the attitudes of most persons favor organ donation, indicating OPO failure to identify and effect consent among many potential donor of all types, particularly non-ME/C donors.²

The statement that "human lives are lost every time that organs are not . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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