CDTraveler

In the situation where a patient is declared legally dead, "brain dead" in the vernacular, as a receiving hospital Wash U is unlikely to be the one making decisions. Somewhere connected to the hospital where that patient is a donor coordinator who has looked at multiple transplant lists, tried to make the best possible matches based on type, need, etc. and then has to coordinate multiple transplant teams because probably more than one organ is being donated (heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, intestine, thymus. Also possibly tissues which include bones, tendons, corneae, skin, heart valves). The coordinator has to set a schedule that respects the feelings of the donor family and maximizes the viability of the harvested organs. Generally a potential recipient is not contacted until 1. legal death is confirmed 2. donor consents are signed 3. the availability of the surgical teams is confirmed 4. the ability of the recipients is confirmed - as in receiving hospitals have patients they know can arrive at the hospital before the organ arrives because they are within a limited distance. So if your friend starts looking for flights then, he may be out of luck. I can't ever recall a case where a recipient was notified until 1. thru 3. were certainties. So unless the "brain dead" patient dies at Wash U, that aspect is not going to buy him much extra time.