Social Work Practice in the Donation of Human Tissue for Transplantation

Abstract

ABSTRACT In Queensland, Australia, senior social workers have pioneered the coordination of tissue donation at coronial autopsies, seeking consent for the donation of heart valve, bone and eye tissue after sudden deaths which have been reported to the coroner. The urgent need for tissue for transplantation is balanced with the counselling, information and practical needs of potential donor families in their shock and grief. Social work assessment, advocacy, liaison, counselling, crisis intervention and particularly communication skills have been utilised, both as an integral component of obtaining informed consent and in working with families' experience of grief and loss in sudden, traumatic bereavement. This tissue donation program, over a period of eight years, has maximised the availability of tissue with its high donation rates, while upholding the rights and needs of potential donor families through provision of an effective social work service. The paper will reflect upon key social work knowledge and processes which have respected the subjective experience of client and worker while working within a medical model.