Totally not true. When declaring someone brain dead I have no idea of their donor status. That only comes into play afterward.
Not sure what state you're in, here in Illinois I'm pretty sure the Nurses and Doctors know.
My younger brother (8 years younger than I..) died of a massive brain aneurysm at the point where the brain and brain stem meet. We were told by the Chief of Neurology at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, IL that he was dead before he hit the floor in his home, even though the paramedics were able to revive him (get his heart beating again, get him breathing again.)
By the time I got to the hospital, the hospital neurologists had already evaluated him. They informed my sister, my youngest brother and I that his aneurysm was inoperable and there was nothing they could do for him. His death was certain to come and there was nothing left to do but make him as comfortable as he could be.
I spent the night in his hospital room with him. I was there at 2:42AM on Saturday Morning August 11th 2012 when he passed and the machines took over supporting him (keeping him breathing.) It was during that evening that I learned from the nurse assigned to him that the organ donation "system" had already matched his organs with recipients, and that process started almost immediately after the hospital neurologists informed us our brother had no chance of recovery. All the tests they did (swallow test, sensation tests and others) simply confirmed their conclusion. It would not be until 4pm on Saturday August 11th 2012 that they would finally pronounce him dead.
Within an hour what's left of my small family (sister, younger brother and my brother's two teenage daughters) were escorted to a room where we were informed of my brother's organ donation status (he was a donor) and that the following morning they'd be harvesting his organs as recipients were being flown in.
The organ donation "system" had started monitoring my brothers status minutes after he arrived at the hospital. It was the nurse assigned to him who told me so as I sat with my brother as he passed from this life onto the next.
You'll have to pardon me if I just do not believe you when you say the nurses don't know and only find out after the fact. Nurses do know based on the drugs they're putting into the IV whether or not they're keeping someone "going" long enough to be an organ donor. They know which drugs are intended to keep the heart beating even though the brain has shut down because the blood supply had been cut off to it. They know which drugs they're putting into the IV to keep the lungs "healthy" even though they're on a respirator.
The ICU nurse assigned to my brother told me that.
My brother who passed away from a massive brain aneurysm was himself a nurse. He dedicated himself to caring for the sickest of the sick, so it was no surprise to us that he donated his organs. What *was* a surprise to us is the speed at which the organ donation system seems to operate, the "sterility" of it and from my point of view, the ghoulishness of it all. From the point of their monitoring my brother's status starting minutes after he entered the hospital to the moment he passed just gave me the creeps. It still does.