Ireland has record fall in number of organ donations

The past year saw a dramatic decline in the number of organ donors in Ireland, with only one or two patients in some major teaching hospitals providing organs for the national transplant service. The Irish Kidney Association says it is concerned that families of potential donors in hospital are not being approached because of staffing shortages and work pressures in the country’s intensive care units.

The annual report of the National Organ Procurement Service shows that in 2010 organs came from just 58 deceased people to enable kidney, liver, heart, and …