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Families often refuse organ donation in the UK

Posted on: Friday, 12 May 2006, 10:46 CDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The largest barrier to improving organ donation rates in the UK is refusal by relatives. In a new study, 41 percent of the families of potential donors denied consent.

To investigate the reasons for non-donation from potential donors, Dr. Chris Rudge and colleagues, from UK Transplant in Bristol, reviewed all deaths that occurred in intensive care units from April 2003 to March 2005.

Of 46,801 patients who died, 2740 were potential beating-heart organ donors. Only 1244 became actual donors, according to the report in the British Medical Journal.

ICU staff appeared to be comfortable in approaching families about donation. Ninety-four percent of families with a potential donor were asked about consent for donation.

As noted, 41 percent of families refused donation, the most common reasons being not wanting surgery to the body, uncertainty about the patient's own wishes, and a difference of opinion between family members.

Donor race, but not sex or age, seemed to affect the families' decision. The refusal rate for families of donors from ethnic minorities was 70 percent, twice the rate observed for families of white donors.

The researchers believe that transplantation rates in the UK could increase come September when a new law, the Human Tissue Act, goes into effect, making the donor's wishes paramount.

SOURCE: British Medical Journal, May 13, 2006.

Source: REUTERS

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