3-month-old girl dies of heart attack day after parents pledge her organs for donation

Meera Sawarkar’s organs were supposed to save two lives at hospitals in Delhi and Gurugram

Before she could give a new lease of life to other babies with end-stage organ failure, 3-month-old Meera Sawarkar died of cardiac arrest at a Nagpur hospital on Friday morning. Officials from the state transplant coordination committee said the parents had pledged to donate Meera’s kidneys and liver to babies under treatment at two hospitals in Delhi and Gurugram.

Meera Sawarkar and her parents, Dr Umesh and Dr Ashwini, met with an accident at Amravati on Sunday midnight in which Meera sustained grievous injuries . (HT Photo)

On Sunday midnight, Meera and her parents, Dr Umesh and Dr Ashwini, met with an accident at Amravati in which Meera sustained grievous injuries. After initial treatment, Ashwini and Meera were rushed to Central India’s Children Hospital and Research Institute (CICHRI), Nagpur.

“Attempts to revive the child went in vain, as Meera continued to remain on ventilator. After the doctors informed the family about her condition, the father expressed his will to donate her organs,” said Dr Ravi Wankhede, zonal transplant coordination committee, Nagpur.

Wankhede added that Meera suffered a cardiac arrest just hours before her second apnea test, to confirm she was brain dead. “The first test took place on Thursday. According to organ donation norms for babies under the age of one, two confirmatory tests to declare a baby brain dead must have a gap of 24 hours. Unfortunately, Meera couldn’t be revived after the cardiac arrest,” said a doctor from CICHRI.

Wankhede said the case has started the debate over reducing the period between two confirmatory tests to declare a baby brain dead. “The period is set forth according to research and case histories of paediatric intensive care medicine. But had the period been shorter, two more lives could have been saved,” he added.