Ethical Issues in Organ Transplantation at End of Life: Defining Death

End-of-life vital organ transplantation involves singular ethical issues, because survival of the donor is impossible, and organ retrieval is ideally as close to the death of the donor as possible to minimize organ ischemic time. Historical efforts to define death have been met with confusion and di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnesthesiology clinics Vol. 38; no. 1; p. 231
Main Authors Suhre, Wendy, Van Norman, Gail A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.03.2020
Subjects
Donation after cardiac death
Religion
Ethics
Vital organ transplantation
Brain death
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Summary:End-of-life vital organ transplantation involves singular ethical issues, because survival of the donor is impossible, and organ retrieval is ideally as close to the death of the donor as possible to minimize organ ischemic time. Historical efforts to define death have been met with confusion and discord. Fifty years on, the Harvard criteria for brain death continue to be problematic and now face significant legislative efforts to limit their authority.
ISSN:1932-2275
DOI:10.1016/j.anclin.2019.10.009