Families could lose trust in doctors
Although the UK is slowly moving toward a presumed-consent system for organ donation, British intensive care doctors have expressed serious misgivings. Even though they support the principle of organ donation, they worry that it could erode trust between doctors, patients and their families. "In intensive care patients are often admitted suddenly and the families have to comes to terms very quickly with the fact that someone may not survive," says Kevin Gunning, of Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, who has surveyed members of the Intensive Care Society. "It is very important in this situation that we have their trust, that we are doing is going to be in the best interests of that patient…. The trouble is we live in a society where people are very much worried about the interference of the state. I think you would find that families would view this as taking the organs – and that would create a tension." ~ BBC, Sept 3

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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