The article comments on a paper "Outcome after admission to ITU following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: Are non-survivors suitable for non-heart-beating organ donation?," by A.P. Gratix, A.J. Pittard and A.R. Bodenham in this issue. The study shows that one of the patient groups that was considered to be a potential source of non-heart-beating donors may not be as great as was previously assumed.