The number of transplants using organs from people who fatally overdosed on drugs is rising in central Ohio and the nation.
The nonprofit group Lifeline of Ohio, which serves several counties, had a record number of donors and recipients last year, and a 37 percent increase in the number of transplants. A spokesperson says a quarter of organ donors died from overdoses last year, a 12 percent increase from 2016. Ohio had the nation's second-highest drug-death rate in 2016. Nationally, the number of donations after fatal overdoses has more than doubled over the past three years.
