Medical examiners' attitudes toward organ procurement from child abuse/homicide victims

Solid organ transplant provides lifesaving therapy for infants and children with otherwise terminal diseases, but it is severely limited by donor organ supply. Medical examiners perform a pivotal role in the organ procurement process by determining whether a "heartbeating cadaver" on life support is a medicolegally suitable donor. This descriptive questionnaire study assesses medical examiner practice and behavior regarding organ procurement from child abuse/homicide victims. Obtaining forensic evidence for judicial purposes and releasing organs to children awaiting transplantation are not necessarily conflicting values. Greater than 60% of medical examiners sampled would agree to release organs from abuse/homicide victims in the scenarios presented here if provided with requested information. Further confronting the origins of variable medical examiner practice in this area might result in the availability of additional solid organs for pediatric transplantation.