GERMANY: Lung Transplant Patient Urges Policy Change As Uniklinikum Warns Rigid Rules Keep Transplant Numbers Low

lung transplant Saves Patient As Calls Grow For Donation After Circulatory Death In Germany

WORLD NEWS – GERMANY: Eilin Hahn survived a near-impossible daily routine after receiving a donor lung following four months on the highest urgency waiting list. Before the transplant she was so weak that walking to the bathroom several times a day was an ordeal; the new lung restored a level of life she had not known for years and made transplantation the central turning point of her recovery.

For years Germany’s transplantation rates have lagged behind other European countries, and roughly 8,200 people currently wait for a transplant. Physicians at university hospitals report weekly losses among patients who never receive organs in time, a shortfall specialists attribute in part to Germany’s legal limit that permits organ donation only after brain death.

Recent studies cited by clinicians indicate procuring organs after circulatory death could raise the number of available organs, as has been the case elsewhere in Europe. Under present German rules, even a clearly recorded wish to be a donor cannot lead to donation if the heart has already stopped, a restriction patients and advocates describe as a barrier to expanding lung and other organ transplantation.

Hahn’s recovery has renewed calls for political action to widen donation pathways and increase transplantation capacity. Her case underscores how a single lung transplant and timely donor procurement can transform lives while spotlighting a national debate over rules that many argue should change to save more patients waiting for organs.

Video originally published on 2026-06-06 08:19:08