Consent to organ donation: a review

Area of Science:

• Transplant Medicine
• Public Health Policy
• Bioethics

Background:

• Deceased organ donation consent rates remain suboptimal, hindering transplant medicine.
• Numerous policy strategies and evidence-based practices aim to improve organ donor consent.
• Understanding the impact of these policies is crucial for increasing organ availability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review past and current policies and practices for obtaining consent for deceased organ donation.
• To present evidence on the impact of these policies and practices on consent rates.
• To summarize future directions and recommendations for optimizing organ donation consent.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on organ donation policies and consent practices.
• Analysis of evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of various strategies.
• Synthesis of findings to inform future recommendations.

Main Results:

• Past policies like 'required request' have been unsuccessful.
• The 'first-person authorization' policy shows promise for improving consent.
• Effective communication by trained professionals optimizes the request process.
• Donation after cardiac death procedures positively impact organ availability.

Conclusions:

• First-person authorization and effective communication are key to increasing organ donation consent.
• Organ procurement organizations should adopt evidence-based practices and policies.
• Further research into the medical basis for dual brain death examinations is recommended.