Families Who Previously Refused Organ Donation Would Agree to Donate in a New Situation: A Cross-sectional Study

• Published in: Transplantation proceedings 2012-10, Vol.44 (8), p.2268-2271
• Main Authors: Morais, M, da Silva, R.C.M.A, Duca, W.J, Rol, J.L, de Felicio, H.C.C, Arroyo-, P.C, Miyazaki, M.C.O.S, Domingos, N.A.M, Valerio, N.I, Abbud-Filho, M, de Oliveira, J.F.P, da Silva, R.F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Attitude to Death; Biological and medical sciences; Choice Behavior; Clinical death. Palliative care. Organ gift and preservation; Communication; Cross-Sectional Studies; Family - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fundamental immunology; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Organ Transplantation - psychology; Physician's Role; Professional-Family Relations; Surgery; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surveys and Questionnaires; Third-Party Consent; Tissue and Organ Procurement; Tissue Donors - supply & distribution; Tissue, organ and graft immunology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0041-1345; 1873-2623
• DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2012.07.018

Abstract Background The limited supply of organs restricts the number of transplantations. Studying the families who refuse donation may help to increase the number of transplantations. Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study used a questionnaire to obtain information from 61 family members who had refused to donate organs from January 1997 to December 2004. The exclusion criterion was donor death less than 1 year from the study. The mean age of subjects was 41 ± 12.7 years (range, 18 to 79 years) with 66% women. Results More than half (36 of 69; 52%) of the families who refused donation would agree to donate in a new situation. The primary reasons for refusing donation were: disagreement among family members (25 of 128; 19%), lack of knowledge regarding the deceased's wishes (22 of 128; 17%), and previous request from the deceased not to be a donor (17 of 128; 13%). The most frequent suggestions to increase organ donation were to provide families with more information (43 of 149; 29%), initiate contact among the families (36 of 149; 24%), and involve a trusted physician (30 of 149; 20%). Conclusion Most family members who refused organ donation changed their minds and would agree to donate in a few situation. Most of the reasons for refusing to donate reflected a lack of information and discussion on the topic.