Organ donation policy change keeps family from donating man's organs
Donating a loved one's organs is sensitive at the best of times, but imagine being told your brain-dead relative has to be flown 800 kilometres, with no family, for organ removal.
Well, there goes maybe eight, 10 lives. Who knows how many lives Dad could have impacted?- Shawna Park's husband
A family in York Harbour, in western Newfoundland, came up against a change in provincial protocol when they made the difficult decision to donate their father's organs, and decided instead to have him cremated.
Derek Park, 61, ended up in the hospital in Corner Brook last April where a CAT scan revealed a major bleed inside his skull after he suddenly developed a severe headache while working.
Doctors determined there was nothing they could do for Park other than make him comfortable. The blood soaking into his brain would eventually cause it to swell, leading to organ failure.
His family decided to put him on life support and to sedate him to lessen the stress on his body when the swelling started.
Eventually, his condition deteriorated to the point where a doctor "who was completely gentle and understanding" talked Park's daughter-in-law Shawna and her husband about his wishes regarding organ donation.
"My husband [Aden] and I had discussed it earlier, and my husband said, 'Well, I know Dad would want to donate his organs.' He said. 'I think he signed his donation card' and he said, 'Dad would give anyone anything,'" she told CBC Radio's On The Go.
'Maybe we can save more lives'
Shawna Park said the family agreed, saying, "His death may be in vain but maybe we can save more lives here."
The family thought Derek Park would be declared medically dead.
With machines to help keep him alive, he would be taken into the operating room still warm, his organs would be removed and his body would released for his funeral.
Instead, the doctor returned five minutes later after she notified the organ procurement office at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's.
"She said, 'There's been a change in policy. They no longer fly into Corner Brook and do the organ harvesting. She said now what happens, we have our own team here in Newfoundland and now they will fly out by air ambulance. They will stabilize Derek's body and they will transport him by air ambulance back to the Health Sciences Centre where in the next day or so they will retrieve his organs and then his body will be sent back to Corner Brook.'" Park said.
"We stood stunned."
The doctor checked again, but was told Derek Park would have to be flown to St.John's
'A strange hospital, a strange city'
Park said the family was upset that they would want to take Derek's body 800 kilometres to St. Johns alone.
"To a strange hospital, to a strange city, without his family there, to die basically," Shawna Park said. "Even though we knew he was brain dead, he was still alive. His heart was still beating, his lungs were still moving, whether or not it was machines or medications keeping him alive, he was still our family member."
The family couldn't travel to St. John's on the air ambulance since there was no room, family members were too exhausted to drive and even if they could they couldn't afford financially to drive down and pay for a hotel.
"My husband and sister-in law and mother [in-law] just kind of looked at each other and I jumped in and said, 'No, absolutely not, they've been through enough.' I said, 'We believe in organ donations, I have my card signed, we all have our cards signed. I said, 'No, we cant' do this, this is too much."
Derek Park died without his organs being harvested. His body was taken to the morgue and cremated.
That night they returned to York Harbour and went to Derek Park's former home.
"My husband said, 'Well, there's goes maybe eight, 10 lives. Who knows how many lives Dad could have impacted? …His organs are all going to be [burned] now.' He said, 'That's so sad.'"
Organ donation week
Shawna Park said her husband became even more upset after he made a discovery while online.
"'This is organ donation week,' he said. 'Yesterday, the minister stood in the House of Assembly and made a statement about 'How we can get more Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to donate their organs?' They're saying it's so important and asking, 'How do we do it?''"
"He said, 'We want to do it and they're not making it feasible for us.'"