Brain death and organ donation in Germany: analysis of procurement in a neurosurgical unit and review of press reports.

Abstract

A prospective study was undertaken to determine the number of potential organ donors in a neurosurgical intensive care unit and to record the actual number of organ donations. The reasons for refusal of organ donations were analysed with respect to the controversial public discussion of the brain death concept and the transplantation law in Germany. From 1994 to 1997, the number of cases of brain death, and the number of cases in which relatives consented or refused to organ donation as well as the number of actual organ explantations was recorded. Over the same period, press reports of 5 German language newspapers were analysed with regard to the authors' position on brain death and transplantation law, their qualification, intention, and mode of presentation. Annually, about 70 deaths occurred on the department's intensive care unit of which almost 30% of the patients were determined to have suffered brain death without any obvious contraindications against organ donation. The refusal rate of relatives rose from 56% up to 78%, and the rate of organ donors thus decreased from 5% in 1994 to 4% presently in the department. About 100 reports were published each year in the analysed newspapers, of which about 90% voiced approval of organ transplantation. During the review period, the depiction became more objective (57% in 1994 to 82% in 1997) and the suspicious attitude toward the technique of brain death diagnosis declined. Whereas 50% of the articles rejected the brain death concept in 1994, this figure decreased to 39% in 1997 and conversely the concept of consent rose from 33% in 1994 to 56% in 1997. In Germany, the relatives refusal rate in organ donation is continuously high, presumable due to a depressing 39% of press reports rejecting the brain death concept, and resulting in a very low number of organ donations. There is hope that the transplantation law which has finally passed German parliament in 1997, confirming the brain death concept as well as the legal principle of prior consent by the donor or consent by the relatives will eventually result in an increase of organ donation especially when supported by an educational campaign which is embodied in the transplantation law.