Organ Donation from Death Caused by Drug Overdose

choi

Katharine Q Seelye, Amid Rising Drug Deaths, Silver Lining for Transplant Patients; In New England, 69 high-risk donors are credited with saving 202 lives this year. New York Times, Oct 6, 2016 (front page).
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/0 ... plant-patients.html

two consecutive paragraphs:

"Transplants were initially associated with deaths from car accidents, which is why organ donors are noted on driver's licenses. But overdoses (47,000 in 2014) have surpassed car crashes (32,000 in 2014) as the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. The growing numbers of overdoses from synthetic opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil have only heightened the drug toll.

"Drug users are now the fastest-growing category of donor. They rank fourth, behind donors who died of strokes, blunt injuries and cardiovascular problems.

Note: The 47,000 is the number of deaths in US from drug overdose.