Family returns brain-damaged son to Turkey for organ donation

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

Yavuz Dönmez, the boy’s father, said he was told by the hospital that no medical treatment was available for his child. AA Photo

A two-year-old Turkish boy, whose intended heart transplant surgery in Germany was rejected because he had suffered brain damage, has been returned to Turkey by his parents “only to donate his organs.”

Muhammet Eren Dönmez was taken to Giessen University’s pediatric service unit for a heart transplant after a heart donor could not be found in Turkey.

A month later, hospital officials said the child’s brain was damaged after his heart had stopped, but his family insisted that he was happy and smiling at them and he must have the heart transplant, even if it meant living as a disabled person afterward. A lawsuit filed by the family against the hospital failed, with the German court deciding that the hospital was right in its decision to transplant the heart to a healthier child.

Yavuz Dönmez, the boy’s father, said he was told by the hospital that no medical treatment was available for his child.

“The doctors in Turkey will decide whether he is brain-damaged. But we did not come to Turkey for treatment, we only came to be able to donate his organs,” said Dönmez, adding that he hoped some of his son’s organs would allow several other children to live.

“We had to go to Germany for the transplant because organ donation is very low in Turkey,” he added.