Writer dies during transplant operation

AWARD-winning Irish TV screenwriter Frank Deasy has died while receiving a potentially life-saving liver transplant in an Edinburgh hospital.

The writer, who had been on a waiting list in Britain for seven months suffering from liver cancer – a situation he described as an “invisible death row” – passed away at 7.30am yesterday.

“We’d been waiting impatiently for the call, but it wasn’t the news we hoped for,” his brother Frank Deasy told RTÉ’s Liveline, which has been covering the issue since Monday.

“He was on the list for seven months, he was a rare blood group. The technology was there, the doctors were there, it was the donor we were waiting for,” he said.

In recent days the Emmy award-winning writer and father-of-three, originally from Artane in Co Dublin, had led a campaign urging people to carry donor cards in order to save countless lives, saying he was “only one of thousands” on their “own invisible death row”.

As a result, the Irish Kidney Association (IKA) has seen a surge in donor card requests which eclipsed any previous high, a fact the group said was a remarkable feat achieved by Mr Deasy.

“Frank wrote a wonderful piece in the UK about what he was facing, which led to Joe Duffy talking about it on the show.

“Before he did that the previous highest number of people requesting donor cards was the 1,000 after The Late Late Show a few years ago. This week alone we’ve had 2,000 requests on Monday, 3,500 on Tuesday, 2,000 on Wednesday, and about the same number again today,” an IKA spokesperson explained.

“We’re expecting more than 10,000 requests by the end of the week, far higher than any annual donor week, and that really is because of Frank.

“There are over 600 people in the State who are awaiting one kind of organ transplant or another, whether it is kidney, heart, or lung,” he added.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Mary Harney has called on families to discuss the issue of organ donation.

Ms Harney said new figures from a HSE audit of potential organ donors showed that between September 2007 to August 2008:

* 200 patients were considered for brain stem death testing

* 138 individuals were identified as suitable potential organ donors

* Organ donation was discussed with next-of-kin in 133 cases

* Consent was given in 92 cases

* 90 organ donations took place

* 13 potential donors had donor cards.

Among the reasons given by next-of-kin for not consenting to organ donation were that they were unsure of the patient’s wishes, were divided on organ donation, or felt the patient had “suffered enough”.

“The HSE audit shows how rare and precious a gift organ donation is. The issue of organ donation occurs at a time of tragedy and great emotional distress for a family.

“I believe that their act of organ donation brings some comfort to the family through the knowledge that their decision will have saved up to five other lives.”

lAnyone who wishes to request a donor card can do so by free-texting the word “donor” to 50050.