Last month, the family of a 54-year-old woman who was a patient in the Hospital’s critical care unit donated the patient’s liver and right and left kidney. Through this generous donation, New York Methodist was able to help save the life of a 61-year-old female who received both kidneys and a 78-year-old male, who received the liver. The efforts of the Hospital’s Patient Relations Department, Critical Care Unit, Operating Room and the donor’s family- contributed to making this miracle possible.

While the number of patients awaiting organ transplants in the Greater New York Metropolitan area continues to grow, the region has experienced a 22 percent decline in the number of organ donors in 2008. Statistics show that 69 percent of the families nationwide consent to organ donation. By comparison, and highlighting the even more critical shortage in New York, the organ donation consent rate in the greater New York metropolitan area in 2007 was 58 percent.

The number of people waiting for organ transplants in the United States exceeds 100,000. In addition, thousands of patients await life-saving and life-improving tissues such as bone, skin and heart-valves, as well as eyes and corneas. Each day, an average of 18 people who are waiting for organs in the United States, die because no organs can be found for them. Success rates for organ transplants average 80–to 90 percent--over 90 percent for various types of tissue transplants. Individuals may be tissue donors up to the age of 80.

For more information about how you or a loved one can save a life, please call 718 780-3375. Individuals interested in enrolling in the State’s organ donor registry can log on to www.SaveLivesNewYork.org.

New York Methodist Hospital 

New York Methodist Hospital, a voluntary, acute-care teaching facility located in Brooklyn’s Park Slope, houses 651 inpatient beds (including bassinets) and provides services to over 34,000 inpatients each year.  An additional 350,000 outpatient visits and services are logged annually.  The Hospital offers Institutes in the following areas: Advanced and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Asthma and Lung Disease; Cancer Care; Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery; Digestive and Liver Disorders; Diabetes and Other Endocrine Disorders; Vascular Medicine and Surgery; Family Care; Neurosciences; Orthopedic Medicine and Surgery and Women’s Health. The Hospital, founded in 1881, has undergone extensive renovation and modernization over the years.  New York Methodist is affiliated with the Weill College of Medicine at Cornell University and it is a member of NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System.