Parental consent for pediatric cadaveric organ donation

Abstract

Although the cadaveric donor organ shortage has been recognized for over a decade, the disparity between the number of organs needed and the actual number available for transplantation has escalated dramatically. Three reasons for this shortage have been proposed: families are not asked about organ donation, brain death is not pronounced by physicians, and families deny consent for organ donation when asked. Families refusal to consent for donation has been identified as the most prevalent cause for the loss of potential organ donors. Yet very little is known about why families refuse to donate their relatives' organs. Even less is known about how parents make these decisions for their children. The purpose of this study was to improve understanding of why parents do or do not consent to donate their child's organs. Our hypothesis was that this decision is affected by parents' attitudes about organ donation and transplantation, the hospital experience surrounding their child's critical illness and death, and the process of informed consent for donation. To test this hypothesis, we performed an exploratory retrospective survey of parents who had been asked to donate the organs of their child about the reasons for their decision.