Donation After Circulatory Death With Normothermic Regional Perfusion: A Brief Ethical Analysis
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This article was first published in the Spring 2021 issue of Critical Connections.
A 24-year-old man was brought to a trauma center after sustaining a devastating head injury during a motor vehicle collision. Weeks later, he remains intubated and unresponsive. Although he does not meet criteria for brain death, imaging shows severe traumatic brain injury. After extensive workup, the neurology service believes he is not likely to regain neurologic function. After long consideration, the patient’s parents are planning to withdraw life-sustaining therapy because they are certain that their son would not want to live in his current condition. He had indicated his desire to be an organ donor on his driver’s license, and they ask the ICU team if organ donation is an option.
Critical Connections, the critical care industry's only newsmagazine, provides information on cutting-edge topics in critical care useful to the entire multiprofessional team.Katherine Fischkoff, MD, MPA, FACS
Sabrina F. Derrington, MD, MA, HEC-C, FAAP
Catherine S. Heith, MD
David A. Oxman, MD
Lois Shepherd, JD
Mary Faith Marshall, HEC-C, PhD