Standalone organ donor centers have sprouted all over the U.S. Do they work better than hospitals?

Not much sets the world of transplant medicine abuzz. But in the early 2000s, a creative idea in Missouri got everyone in the field talking.

For the first time, organ donors who were declared brain-dead were moved out of the hospital and into an independent, freestanding center to have their organs removed. With these patients out of the precious and limited ICU beds, the hospital could devote its time and resources to living patients. At the freestanding center, staff could focus on getting organs into the best shape possible before the grafts made their way to people on the transplant waitlist. 

“When we started, we had no idea how it was going to take off,” said Gary Marklin, chief medical and research officer at Mid-America Transplant in St. Louis. Mid-America is an organ procurement organization, one of 56 nonprofits across the country that manages the flow of donated organs. 

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