Ethical, legal, and societal issues and recommendations for controlled and uncontrolled DCD

This report deals with organ retrieval procedures in both controlled and uncontrolled DCD, looking at the ethical, legal, and psychosocial aspects during the different phases of the process. A recently published report by the UK Donation Ethics Committee (UKDEC) has served as an important reference document to outline the steps in the controlled DCD patient-donor pathway (Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. UK Donation Ethics Committee. An ethical framework for controlled donation after circulatory death. December 2011). For uncontrolled DCD, the UKDEC pathway description was adapted. At the 6th International Conference in Organ Donation held in Paris in 2013, an established expert European Working Group reviewed the UKDEC reports, which were then considered along with the available published literature. Along this pathway, the crucial ethical, legal, and psychosocial aspects have been flagged, and relevant recommendations have been formulated based on a consensus of the working group.