As per official medical data in India every 20 seconds, a person suffers a brain stroke and if medical help is not provided within 4 hrs then it may result in brain death, and because of this delay every 2 minutes a person dies.
In India, organ donation is governed by the Transplantation of Human Organ (THO) Act 1994. An organ can be donated and harvested only if a person is declared brain dead under THO Act 1994 by the board consisting of doctors as required under the act. After natural death, only the eyes which can be harvest within two hours, and the liver within half an hour can be done or the whole body can be given for medical research. One can donate his organs or whole body for research. For this one has to sign the donation form with any NGO, Govt organization or even with a military hospital or civil hospital or on the website of the National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO).
Once one is declared brain dead by the doctors by following the laid down procedure under the Act by the medical board then only the process of harvesting the usable organs can be started. Even if one has donated the organs by signing the required donation forms or on the website of NOTTO during your lifetime your legal heirs will still be asked whether they wish the organ to be harvested as required under the Act. If they say yes and sign the forms then the doctors will declare you brain dead under the THO Act 1994, remove the life support systems and harvest the organs. If they do not agree then the life support and the bill will continue till you are declared dead as required under the Registration Of Birth and Death Act 1969 and no harvesting will be done. This may take days and meanwhile, the medical bill will keep on increasing at an alarming rate if admitted to a private hospital.
You can also make a living will or what is called an advance declaration that under the specified conditions your life support system or medication can be removed and you be declared dead under the THO Act. This document is registered with Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) and not with the registrar but the procedure to execute it is long and cumbersome as a medical board is required to certify and execute the will under orders of JMFC. In this case the legal heirs need to notify the JFMC about the testator being brain dead so that the process as enumerated in the Supreme Court Judgement is followed to declare him brain dead.
So make sure even if you have donated organs that your legal heirs or close relative attending you when you have been declared brain dead know that you have donated the organs and will sign the required form for the life support system to be removed and organs harvested or notify the JMFC as the case may be.
This is a post written by RK Singh, Ex-Air Force Office who took premature retirement in 1993 and then helped in setting up several factories all over India. He is based at Noida and deeply into social service to help people in general who have legal issues or problems. He is a postgraduate in Physics from Allahabad University and Master’s in Defence Studies, Business Administration & environmental Sciences besides a Degree in Law. He has published 23 research papers and a number of articles.
