To see Thursday October 17 at 10:50 p.m. on France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and france.tv
In France, each year, there are 3,000 organ donors. If French law positions any person as a potential donor, reality confronts families with a choice to make urgently.
In the documentary “ Passengers of life », Katia Chapoutier, director, follows the journey of families who were faced with the death of a young relative, who was brain dead, and who had to make the choice of organ donation. These families evoke the feelings experienced, between astonishment and the urgency to quickly accept the sample so that the transplant can be carried out.
On the caregiver side, it is also a difficult stage for which you must be prepared. This is why the Biomedicine Agency organizes training sessions throughout France to prepare them for this question: these are actors who play the role of families to recreate situations as close as possible to the truth.
For families, once the donation has been made, they deplore the lack of information afterward: the donation being anonymous and free, it is not possible to know to whom the organs were given. In theory, the Biomedicine Agency can anonymously transmit certain information between donors and recipients, but is this really done, wonders the mother of a donor.
Hence the interest in discussion groups between families of donors and transplant recipients who share their experiences and the importance for everyone to take care of the donor family. The director takes the example of Canada where each donor and their family are rewarded with a medal during a ceremony which honors them; secondary schools also raise awareness among young people about this issue, so that organ donation is freely discussed. A practice that certain French families followed by Katia Chapoutier wish to import to our country, so that the mourning of donor families is somewhat softened and there is greater concern for their support.
Anne-Lise Favier
