Organ group tightens blood-type matching rules

The organization that oversees the national distribution of donated organs said it will require added, redundant checks of blood type and will refuse to allocate a donated organ to a hospital unless the recipient's name comes up on a computerized list as matching the donor's blood type. The United Network for Organ Sharing said the extra safeguards were developed in the wake of a botched heart-lung transplant received by 17-year-old Jesica Santillan, who died in February. Santillan received organs from a donor with a different blood type in a procedure at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. Under the new standards, both hospitals that harvest organs and hospitals that receive them must document their checks to match blood type, and UNOS said it will examine those records during regular audits. -- by Vince Galloro