Ethical and Policy Considerations in Organ Donation after Circulatory Determination of Death

Publication Date: July 1, 2013

Key Points

Key Points

  • More than 21,000 deceased donor transplants are performed in the United States each year.
  • Based on 2011 data from the Organ Procurement Transplantation Network, 26% of listed solid organ transplant candidates were too sick to be transplanted or died while awaiting transplant.
  • The supply of ‘traditional’ donors after neurological determination of death is insufficient to provide organs to all patients who might benefit from transplants.
  • Donation after circulatory determination of death (DCDD) has the potential to increase the number of deceased donor transplants by roughly 10%.
  • This statement is designed to provide a framework to guide ethics and health policy considerations in adult and pediatric controlled DCDD from the perspective of critical care medicine clinicians, transplant subspecialists, and allocation authorities.
  • This report addresses controlled DCDD. It does not address uncontrolled DCDD, which refers to donation after an unexpected circulatory arrest.

Process

...rocess...


...nterventions...


...tion of Death...


...-of-life Care...



...re 1. Organ Donation