An e-mail from California:

Kathryn, I ran a trauma center for seven years. Most of our trauma
cases were motor vehicle accidents with multiple trauma but especially
head trauma. As a result, we had a lot of patients who were potential
organ donors. Early on, being interested in transplantation, I came up
with a proposal that we adopted and followed as long as I was
associated with the trauma center. It continued after my time and is
still, as far as I know, being followed. What we did was to assign a
senior nursing supervisor who was interested in transplantation as a
coordinator to meet the victim’s family as soon as they appeared. This
senior nurse was charged with keeping them informed and helping them
with any stresses that could be reduced. The family had a personal
advocate. Not all cases that were identified as possible donors became
donors. Many recovered. Our neurosurgeons were pioneers in the
treatment of head injury. However, of those who did die, we never lost
a donor. The families knew someone who had not just appeared when it
was time to ask permission to take the loved one’s organs. That nurse,
and for years it was a male nurse who also taught in the local nursing
school, became an expert on transplantation and a member of he Board
of the local organ procurement agency. He was a well known figure in
southern California transplantation circles. He as also well known and
revered by families who had loved ones in our ICU. I went to his
funeral a few months ago.
The way to assure the maximum success in obtaining organs for
transplantation is the same as the way to assure good medical care.
You care about the patient and the family and show them you are there
to help them. The rest seems to take care of itself.