Organ donation in intensive care--a look at the ethical issues

This paper is based on consideration of the ethical issues surrounding organ donation. This emotive subject has far-reaching implications concerning both donation and transplantation but the purpose in this paper is to deal specifically with issues related to cadaveric organ donation and how they concern nurses in an intensive care unit (ICU). A brief, general description of both ethics and organ donation is followed by a discussion of the issues surrounding the donor himself, including the diagnosis of brainstem death, the donor's family, and the nursing and medical implications. Legal, social and economic factors are considered with the aim of highlighting ethical areas but not necessarily providing answers to the questions raised.