Dr. Lavi: the extraordinary story of heart transplants in Israel

A groundbreaking law that passed the Knesset Monday will dramatically increase the number of organ donors in Israel, in part because the measure enjoys the support of the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox community. The law, which passed with the support of Shas, calls for 'death' to be determined as the point from which one becomes brain dead. Previous definitions varied, with some determining time of death as the time when the heart stops beating.

 The issue is important in the organ donation process because organs are usually not fit for transplant after the heart stops beating, whereas brain death can occur while leaving many organs intact. Many in the religious community had objected to donating organs due to the lack of clarity on when death occurs. The standardized defination of death should help increase the number of organs donated by roughly 25%.

 Sephardic religious leaders plan to call on followers to donate organs as a mitzvah. At the same time, the Ashkenasi religious community has some who are very much against the measure, saying death only occurs when the heart stops beating.

 On average, the lives of four people are saved from every organ donor.

As reported by Infolive.tv last year, watch as Dr. Yaakov Lavi, one of Israel's top transplant surgeons, speaks of the growing need for heart transplants and new, innovative techniques which save the life of transplant patients.  03/25/08