Family overrule of registered refusal to donate organs
Abstract
It is well known that families frequently overrule the wishes of dying patients who had previously expressed a wish to donate their organs. Various strategies have been suggested to reduce the frequency of these 'family overrules'. However, the possibility of families overruling a patient's registered decision not to donate has not been discussed in the medical literature, although it is legally possible in some countries. In this article, we provide an ethical analysis of family overrule of a relative's refusal to donate, using the different jurisdictions of the UK, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands to provide some context. Despite some asymmetries between overruling consent and overruling refusal, there are some cases in which donation should proceed despite a recorded refusal to do so. Copyright © The Intensive Care Society 2019.
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Date
2020
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Article
Subject
Death, Organ donation, Bioethical issues
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Citation
Shaw, D., Lewis, P., Jansen, N., Samuel, U., Wind, T., Georgieva, D., Haase, B., Ploeg, R. and Gardiner, D.C. (2020) 'Family overrule of registered refusal to donate organs', The Journal of the Intensive Care Society, 21(2), pp. 179-182. doi: 10.1177/1751143719846416.
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Article can be viewed here: https://doi.org/10.1177/1751143719846416.