Early data from the United Network for Organ Sharing shows the number of deceased organ donors has increased for the fifth straight year for a record high in 2017. There was also a record set for the number of total donors, both living and deceased, at 16,462, or a 3% increase from the prior year. Some of the increase can be explained by the US opioid epidemic. Dr. David Klassen, chief medical officer at the Network, said that about “40% of the increase (in the past five years) tracks back to the drug intoxication issue.” Klassen also notes that while the “opioid epidemic is clearly not something anyone expected,” it does have a “little bit of a silver lining.”
See Nadia Kounang, Drug Overdoes Contribute to Record Number of Organ Donors, CNN, January 10, 2018.
