113 Who is responsible for paying for the care of a donor?
Description
This article is from the Organ Transplant FAQ, by mike_holloway@hotmail.com (Michael Holloway) with numerous contributions by others.
113 Who is responsible for paying for the care of a donor?
Question:
Suppose a medical staffperson puts someone on life support waiting for
permission from relatives regarding organ donation. At what point does
financial responsibility end for the patient and/or relatives?
Answer:
The patient's family's financial responsibility ends when the person is
declared dead by brain criteria (brain dead). At the time at which this
is documented, the patient is legally dead and the hospital does not bill
the family for any charges incurred thereafter. If the patient becomes an
organ/tissue donor, the organ/tissue procurement organization (OPO) is
billed for the charges incurred during the management of the donor. The
OPO pays those charges according to established Medicare guidelines.
P.J. Geraghty (procurement coordinator), Washington Regional Transplant
Consortium
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