[Ethrane]

"There is a snag if dopamine is used to keep the kidneys functioning. Too many organs become unusable. This has promted many 'brain death protocols' to be instituted very early in the process. The brain monitoring must be very very precise, to prevent the harvesting too soon, since some have been known to 'come back' after a period of what appears like the 'brain-dead' status. Putting a patient into intentional coma is done to give a traumatized brain a period for recovery. In some cases the coma presents as 'brain-dead' if great care is not taken to measure brain activty precisely. The parents are right to insist on more time for their son, especially at his age."

First, Dopamine is not capable of 'keeping the Kidneys functioning'...it can improve renal blood flow at low doses, but that's about it.

Second, where does the article mention 'organ donation'? I did not see it.

Last, I take with a grain of salt any article that states..."His mother, Marcerlyn Francis, said the operation involved stopping her son's lung functions and that a doctor told her yesterday her son was brain-dead. "

This is inherently incorrect, and unless he was placed on a bypass machine, did not happen.

I'm not saying the Doctors are right or wrong, only that the article seems like little more than 'fluff' the way it is written.

[MHGinTN]

Your name is an anesthetic, isn't it? ... Dopamine is used in low dose to keep up blood flow to kidneys and thus push them to prevent necrosis. I too snagged on that 'stop lung function' ... it sounds more like he stopped breathing while in surgery for a shunt. The proverbial cya appears at work in the parsing of phrase.

[elli1]

Second, where does the article mention 'organ donation'? I did not see it.

I can answer that. The article didn't mention it. MHG was responding to a side discussion among other posters...backtrack 'replies'.

I wondered about the bit in the article about stopping lung function. Thanks for explaining a possible scenario. Question: Would putting a patient on a bypass machine in this scenario be highly unlikely?