This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0885066609344955v1 24/6/389    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Cummings, B. Articles by Paris, J. J. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cummings, B. Articles by Paris, J. J. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Circulatory Arrest in a Brain-Dead Organ Donor: Is the Use of Cardiac Compression Permissible?

Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts, bmcummings{at}partners.org

Natan Noviski, MD

Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts

Michael P. Moreland, JD

Villanova University School of Law, Villanova, Pennsylvania

John J. Paris, SJ, PhD

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Care of the brain-dead patient is common in intensive care practice. Aggressive donor management is advocated to increase supply of viable organs. Significant controversy exists over cardiac resuscitation in patients determined dead by cardiac criteria. The issue, till now, has not been addressed in brain dead patients. We discuss a case of cardiac resuscitation of a brain-dead donor to ensure organ donation. This case allows us to examine the use of brain death criteria to declare death, the controversy regarding cardiac resuscitation in organ donor patients, and the standards for use of cardiac resuscitation in the organ donor declared dead by brain death criteria. The consent process for organ donation in brain dead patients should address the possibility of subsequent cardiac arrest.

Key Words: transplantation • organ donor • brain death • cardiac arrest • donor management • ethics

This version was published on November 1, 2009

Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, Vol. 24, No. 6, 389-392 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0885066609344955


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?