Eligible Death

For reporting purposes of DSA performance assessments, an eligible death for deceased organ donation is defined as the death of a patient who meets all the following characteristics: • Is 75 years old or less • Is legally declared dead by neurologic criteria according to state or local law • Has body weight of 5 kg or greater • Has a body mass index (BMI) of 50 kg/m2 or less • Has at least one kidney, liver, heart or lung that is deemed to meet the eligible data definition as defined below: o The kidney would initially meet the eligible data definition unless the donor meets any of the following criteria: • Greater than 70 years old • Age 50-69 years with history of type 1 diabetes for more than 20 years • Polycystic kidney disease • Glomerulosclerosis greater than or equal to 20% by kidney biopsy • Terminal serum creatinine greater than 4.0 mg/dL • Chronic renal failure • No urine output for 24 hours or longer o The liver would initially meet the eligible data definition unless the donor meets any of the following criteria: • Cirrhosis • Terminal total bilirubin greater than or equal to 4 mg/dL • Portal hypertension • Macrosteatosis greater than or equal to 50% or fibrosis greater than or equal to stage II • Fulminant hepatic failure • Terminal AST/ALT greater than 700 U/L o The heart would initially meet the eligible data definition unless the donor meets any of the following criteria: • Greater than 60 years old • 45 years old or older with a history of 10 or more years of HTN or 10 or more years of type 1 diabetes • History of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) • History of coronary stent/intervention • Current or past medical history of myocardial infarction (MI) • Severe vessel diagnosis as supported by cardiac catheterization (that is more than 50 percent occlusion or 2+ vessel disease) • Acute myocarditis or endocarditis, or both • Heart failure due to cardiomyopathy • Internal defibrillator or pacemaker • Moderate to severe single valve or 2-valve disease documented by echo or cardiac catheterization, or previous valve repair • Serial echo results showing severe global hypokinesis • Myxoma • Congenital defects (surgically corrected or not) o The lung would initially meet the eligible data definition unless the donor meets any of the following criteria: • Greater than 65 years old • Diagnosed with COPD • Terminal PaO2/FiO2 less than 250 mmHg • Asthma (with daily prescription) • Asthma is the cause of death • Pulmonary fibrosis • Previous lobectomy • Multiple blebs documented on computed axial tomography (CAT) scan • Pneumonia as indicated on computed tomography (CT), X-ray, bronchoscopy, or cultures. (OPTN Policy Definitions, June 2026)