US organ transplant system approves first national guidelines for NRP donation procedure
Summary
- The US organ transplant system approved the first national guidelines for normothermic regional perfusion, a procedure that restarts donors' circulation after death is declared.
- NRP is used after families decide to withdraw care: doctors attach a pump minutes after circulatory death to restore blood flow and preserve organs for transplant.
- The Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network board approved the first phase of the guidelines on November 6, 2026, and they take effect December 6, 2026.
- The guidelines require surgeons to cut holes in the clamped vessels supplying the brain and recommend against giving donors paralyzing drugs.
- More than 109,000 Americans are waiting for an organ transplant, and about 12 die each day amid the chronic shortage.
Reactions
- Dr. Lainie Friedman Ross, a University of Rochester bioethicist, says NRP violates the dead donor rule and takes organs from people who are no longer dead.
- Dr. Claire Morgan, a transplant surgeon on the Patient Affairs Committee, says the policy creates little or no more donor protection and opposes its emergency adoption before public comment.
- Dr. Matthew DeCamp, a University of Colorado bioethicist, calls the policy 'the cart before the horse' and says fundamental issues around NRP remain unresolved.
- Dr. Raymond Lynch, transplantation director at the Health Resources & Services Administration, says NRP is ethical, will protect donors, and could help solve the organ shortage.
- Critics worry the new policy could speed the use of NRP before troubling questions have been fully aired.
Timeline newest first
The Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network board approved the first phase of the first uniform national guidelines for NRP on November 6, 2026, with effect from December 6, 2026.
Sources newest first
- An organ transplant controversy tests 'the dead donor rule'
An NPR article reports that the U.S. organ transplant system has approved its first national guidelines for normothermic regional perfusion, a procedure that restarts donors' circulation after death is declared, taking effect December 6, 2026. Critics including bioethicist Dr. Lainie Friedman Ross say NRP violates the Dead Donor Rule; Dr. Raymond Lynch says the guidelines protect donors and could ease the organ shortage.
