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Family Consent (family + consent)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

Attitudes of the American Public toward Organ Donation after Uncontrolled (Sudden) Cardiac Death

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 3 2010
M. L. Volk
Concerns about public support for organ donation after cardiac death have hindered expansion of this practice, particularly rapid organ recovery in the context of uncontrolled (sudden) cardiac death (uDCD). A nationally representative Internet-based panel was provided scenarios describing donation in the context of brain death, controlled cardiac death and uncontrolled cardiac death. Participants were randomized to receive questions about trust in the medical system before or after the rapid organ recovery scenario. Among 1631 panelists, 1049 (64%) completed the survey. Participants expressed slightly more willingness to donate in the context of controlled and uncontrolled cardiac death than after brain death (70% and 69% vs. 66%, respectively, p < 0.01). Eighty percent of subjects (95% CI 77,84%) would support having a rapid organ recovery program in their community, though 83% would require family consent or a signed donor card prior to invasive procedures for organ preservation. The idea of uDCD slightly decreased trust in the medical system from 59% expressing trust to 51% (p = 0.02), but did not increase belief that a signed donor card would interfere with medical care (28% vs. 32%, p = 0.37). These findings provide support for the careful expansion of uDCD, albeit with formal consent prior to organ preservation. [source]

Is Rapid Organ Recovery a Good Idea?

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 10 2009
An Exploratory Study of the Public's Knowledge, Attitudes
In 2006, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended demonstration projects on uncontrolled donation after cardiac death or rapid organ recovery (ROR). To investigate what the public thinks about key ethical and policy questions associated with ROR, 70 African-American, Caucasian and Latino community members in St. Louis, MO, participated in focus groups and completed surveys, before and after being educated about ROR. Before the focus group, most participants believed mistakenly that they could donate organs following an unexpected cardiac arrest (76%). After the focus group, 84% would want to donate organs after unexpected cardiac arrest; 81% would support organ cooling to enable this. The public generally supported organ cooling without family consent if the individual had joined the donor registry, but were mixed in their opinions about what should be done if they were not on the registry. African-American and Latino participants expressed greater fears than Caucasians that if they consented to organ donation, physicians might do less to save their life; however, support for ROR was not significantly lower in these subgroups. Although this study is exploratory, public support for ROR was present. We recommend that adequate consent processes and safeguards be established to foster trust and support for ROR. [source]

Strategies for Establishing Organ Transplant Programs in Developing Countries: The Latin America and Caribbean Experience

ARTIFICIAL ORGANS, Issue 7 2006
José Osmar Medina-Pestana
Abstract:, The Latin America and Caribbean region is composed of 39 countries. It is remarkable the progress of transplantation in the region in despite of the low economic resources when compared to other regions. The criteria for brain death are well established and culturally accepted. The consent for retrieval is based on required family consent in most countries. The regulations for living donors are also well established, with restrictions to unrelated donors and prohibition of any kind of commerce. The access to transplant is limited by the model of public financing by each country, and those with public universal coverage have no financial restrictions to cover the costs for any citizen; in countries with restricted coverage, the access is restricted to the employment status. There is a progressive increment in the annual number of solid organ transplants in Latin America, reaching near 10 000 in 2004, accomplished by adequate legislation that is also concerned with the prohibition of organ commerce. [source]

Absence of significant dissent should be sufficient for deceased donor organ procurement in New Zealand

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 5 2009
Thomas M. Douglas
Abstract Objective: New Zealand's organ donation rates are among the lowest in the OECD. In a bid to increase organ availability, the New Zealand Human Tissue Act 2008 introduces new consent arrangements for deceased donor organ procurement. This article assesses these new arrangements and presents the case for further reform. Approach: Our assessment and arguments are based on philosophical analysis informed by empirical data on the effectiveness of alternative consent systems. We: 1) Identify widely held ethical judgments about policies and practices relevant to organ donation (e.g. those relating to coronial post-mortems), 2) Assess the implications of these judgments for the Human Tissue Act and the assumptions that underpin it, and 3) Derive policy recommendations that are consistent with the judgments. Conclusion: The Human Tissue Act 2008 retains a strong consent requirement for organ procurement: organs may not be transplanted unless either the deceased or the family consents. We argue that organ availability could and should be increased by shifting from a model that requires consent to one that requires the absence of significant dissent. Implications: We recommend that New Zealand adopt either 1) an organ donation system similar to the existing system for ordering coronial post-mortems, or 2) a variant of the ,opt-out' system already in place in several other countries. [source]