'Ferrymen of life' ease organ donation process for patients' family members

Early experience

In 2011, Wang, a 35-year-old native of Hebei province, became a nurse and started work in the ICU at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing. In 2017, he passed the tests to become an organ donation coordinator and began doing the job in his free time.

He first experienced death in 2011, when he helped treat a 60-something heart attack patient. Efforts to save the man were unsuccessful, and Wang said he lacked the necessary experience that helps seasoned medical professionals become used to the negative feelings that can follow a patient's death.

When the doctor announced the news, the man's family members were heartbroken. Meanwhile, Wang felt numb with a mixture of disappointment, sadness and reluctance to accept the fact.

When his colleagues broke his chain of thought, he realized that he had been helping to arrange clothes for the deceased man to wear.

"I chose to be a coordinator because it linked with my work in the ICU, where I saw so many lives and deaths, which gave me a new perspective on life. Death has never been a taboo subject for me since I took the job," he said.

The process from first contact with a potential donor's family to a successful donation is often a long one.

Days or sometimes months can pass after a severely ill patient is admitted to the ICU to the time they are declared brain-dead. Coordinators have to race against time to ensure that the wishes of potential donors are respected and also help their family members.

Sometimes, although family members know that the chances of survival are slim, they are desperate to try every measure to save the patient.

However, organs have to be used very quickly after death, so coordinators often have to work hard to persuade the family members to agree to a donation within the limited time frame.