Obligation and the “Gift of Life”: Understanding frictions surrounding advance care planning and goals of care discussions in liver transplantation

Abstract

PurposeThis article examines the contradictions at play in advance care planning and goals of care discussions in liver transplantation settings. Focusing on code status, we ask why these important conversations are controversial in the transplant context, and why “full code” is the norm for those listed for liver transplantation. Basic proceduresThis article uses a composite case comprising the authors’ clinical experiences to examine the frictions that surround advance care planning in the context of liver transplant. The authors situate this composite case to related ethnographic and liver transplantation literature. Main findingsOur experience of difficulties for clinical teams in reconciling patients’ requests for a do not resuscitate order with their commitment to liver transplantation is borne out in the liver transplant literature in this area. We argue that the high expectations of patients, families, the treatment team, and society in relation to transplant translate into an obligation for patients to have full code status for their desire for transplantation to be recognized fully. We relate this analysis to work on the “transplant imperative” Santivasi et al. describe. ConclusionsSolid organ transplant is often represented as a “cure” or “new beginning.” This future-orientation of solid organ transplantation is incorrectly considered at odds with patients’ request for do not resuscitate orders. Challenging the norms embedded in notions of cure can afford patients to greater agency over their lives and bodies, while affirming that disabled lives are valued.