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Relatives Who Decline Organ Donations Face Conflict And Guilt

This news release helps to explain why family members refuse to donate their loved one's organs in spite of the fact their loved one wanted to be a donor.

ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2008) — Family members are sometimes unable to carry out their relative's wish to donate organs when they die, because of conflicting feelings between making a gift of life and protecting the body of the deceased, according to new research.

Researchers from the University of Southampton, UK, spoke to 26 people who had decided not to let their relatives' bodies be used for organ donations about their views and experiences. The 23 relatives who died ranged from a five-week old baby, who had died of a lung condition, to an 82 year-old man, who died following a stroke.

"Family members who spoke to us were recruited using advertisements in 12 local newspapers, four national newspapers and four hospital intensive care units," explains lead researcher Dr Magi Sque from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University.

"Face-to-face interviews were carried out with eight parents, ten spouses or partners, two sons, five daughters and one sister."

An unexpected finding of the study was how many of the study participants and deceased relatives held pro-donation views.

"Despite this, the decision to not donate was still taken," says Dr Sque.

Twelve family members said they were normally positive about organ donation and nine reported that their relative had indicated that they wanted to be an organ donor. Five said they had mixed feelings about organ donation or knew that their deceased relative didn't want to be a donor.

In six cases, both the relative and the person who died shared the same positive view about donation, yet it still didn't take place. Read the full release.

Rabbi slams opt-out organ donation plan as ‘immoral’

There's quite a controversy raging in the UK about the proposed introduction of an "opt-out" system of organ donation and this article is just one of many opposing views.

From The Jewish Chronicle in the UK - Proposed changes to the system of organ donations for transplant have provoked strong opposition from within the Jewish community.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown favours a switch to an “opt-out” policy whereby organs would be automatically available for use after death unless the deceased had previously registered an objection.

But the idea was this week condemned as “immoral” by Chanoch Kesselman, executive co-ordinator of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations.

Also opposed to the idea is the London Beth Din, which said: “While Jewish law is fully supportive of measures to save life, the right to donate organs must at all times remain with the donors and their families and must not be presumed by others. In any event, any decision for organ removal must be taken in consultation with an expert in Jewish law.” Read the full article.

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