Picture this. A man is involved in a severe car crash in Florida which has left him brain-dead with no hope for any kind of recovery. The majority of his vital organs are still functional and the man has designated that his organs be donated to a needy person upon his untimely death. Meanwhile, upon checking with the donor registry board, it is discovered that the best match for receiving the heart of the Florida man is a male in Oregon who is in desperate need of a heart transplant. Without the transplant, the man will most certainly die within...
the amount of time a heart can remain alive outside of the body prior to transplantation from the current four hours to 24 hours has many desirable benefits. As discussed earlier, this increase in time would allow doctors the ability to better match the tissues of the donor with those of the recipient. Organ rejection by recipients occurs frequently because their tissues do not suitably match those of the donors. The increase in viability time would also allow plenty of opportunity for the organ to be transported to the needy person, even if it must go across the country.