21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Expressing doubts about death criteria can serve healthy purposes, but can also cause a number of harms, including decreased organ donation rates and distress for donor families and health care staff. This paper explores the various causes of doubts about death criteria - including religious beliefs, misinformation, mistrust, and intellectual questions - and recommends responses to each of these. Some recommended responses are relatively simple and noncontroversial, such as providing accurate information. However, other responses would require significant changes to the way we currently do business. Policymakers should establish minimum national standards for determining death to foster a trustworthy system; academics and publishers have a duty to publish only materials that substantially engage and advance the debate to minimize the harm caused by divided expert opinion; and opposition to the dead donor rule should be conceptually separated from doubts about death criteria.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)365-380
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Medicine and Philosophy
Volume35
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010

Keywords

  • Brain death
  • Death
  • Donation after cardiac death
  • Organ transplantation

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