asking consent of parents/ next of kin the option of organ donation on recently deceased loved one. -SOCIAL

Asking about Asking: Informed Consent in Organ Donation Research Anita H. Weiss IRB: Ethics & Human Research Vol. 18, No. 1 (Jan. - Feb., 1996), pp. 6-10 Published by: Hastings Center DOI: 10.2307/3563912 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3563912 Page Count: 5

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Society has made a very strong com­mitment to present families the op­tion of donating their relative's organs through enactment of required re­quest laws and Join! Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organi­zations (JCAJIO) regulations. How­ever, society must insure that families are approached about organ donation in an appropriately sensitive and hu­mane manner. This is important not only to facilitate consent for organ donation, but also to meet the needs and expectations of bereaved families during their time of greatest grief. We will never know if we arc asking about organ donation appropriately if we cannot ask families about their expe­rience with the organ donation con­sent process.

It is also noteworthy that we do not request a family's permission. In ad­vance, to approach them about organ donation. This Is true even though grieving families may be "harmed" when they are asked to decide about organ donation for their newly dead relative or child. Indeed, many health care workers are hesitant or unwilling (despite enacted required request leg­islation) to approach families for con­sent for organ donation precisely be­cause they are fearful of upsetting them unnecessarily.⁸¹⁰ It is esti­mated that two thousand potential demurs were lost in 1989 due to fail­ure of the medical team to approach families for consent for organ dona­tion⁸ even though data indicate that the majority of families who con­sented to donate the organs of a relative were comforted by the donation and would donate again in the fu­ture.¹¹

Thus, organ donation research is relevant to society because It may elucidate information that: (1) in­creases the supply of donated organs, a goal that society has clearly identi­fied as important; and {2} optimizes the experience of families during the organ donation consent process.