To increase support for the concept of brain death, changes accommodating requirements of the religious authorities were made to the Brain Death Act in Israel. These included (1) considering patient wishes regarding brain death determination (BDD); (2) mandatory performance of apnea and ancillary testing; (3) establishment of an accreditation committee and (4) requirement for physician training courses. We describe the first 2 years experience following implementation (2010-2011). During 2010, the number of BDD decreased from 21.9/million population (during the years 2007-2009) to 16.0 (p < 0.001). Reasons included family resistance to brain death testing (27 cases), inability to perform apnea testing (7) and logistic problems related to ancillary testing (26 cases). The number of physicians available to declare brain death also decreased (210 vs. 102). During 2011, BDDs increased to 20.5/million following the introduction of radionuclide angiography as an ancillary test; other reasons for nondetermination persisted (family resistance 26 cases, inability to perform apnea testing 10 cases). Instead of increasing opportunities, many obstacles were encountered following the changes to the Brain Death Act. Although some of these challenges have been met, longer term follow-up is required to assess their complete impact.
In 2012, fourteen law schools operated in Israel: four within universities and ten at private colleges. The number of law students at colleges and accredited attorneys who graduated from the colleges greatly exceeds the number of university law students and alumnae. There is consensus among the leadership of the Israel Bar that law colleges (the newcomers) are responsible for Israel's overpopulation of lawyers and for the legal profession's decline in prestige. Twenty years after the first law colleges were established, the time has come to inquire whether this argument of overcrowding of the profession presents a new 'discovery' or rather the recycling of a standard dynamic between professionals and legal education institutions. The present article examines this issue by evaluating several options: is the profession's 'over-crowdedness' argument an attempt to protect the public, an attempt to prevent competition and to elevate status or rather -as has not been previously suggested -is it an artificial argument aimed (perhaps also unconsciously) at creating a professional melting pot?
Purpose To present the response of the Israel National Transplantation Center (NTC) to the evolving challenge of COVID-19, the impact on deceased organ donation and living organ kidney donation during 2020, and resultant policy and ethical implications. Methods Data collected included (i) for deceased donors, the total number of potential organ donors, if hospitalized in ICU or general ward, cause of death, number of family authorizations and refusals, number of actual donors, number of organs transplanted/donor and total number of transplants performed; (ii) for living-kidney-donors (related or altruistic), the number of procedures performed; and (iii) the number of patients registered on the national organ waiting-list. Results Following the first case (February 2020), deceased organ donation continued uninterrupted. The total number of potential donors was similar to 2019 (181 vs. 189). However, the number of families approached for donation decreased significantly (P = 0.02). This may be attributed to COVID-19-imposed limitations including fewer brain death determinations due to limited possibilities for face-to-face donor coordinator-donor family interactions providing emotional support and visual explanations of the medical situation. Fewer donors were admitted to ICU (P = 0.1) and the number of organs retrieved/donor decreased (3.8/donor to 3.4/donor). The overall result was a decrease of 24.2% in the number of transplant procedures (306 vs. 232). Living kidney donation, initially halted, resumed in May and the total number of procedures increased compared to 2019 due to a significant increase in altruistic donations (P < 0.0001), while the number of related-living donations decreased. Conclusion This study of organ donation during a crisis has informed the introduction of policy changes in the NTC including the necessity to mobilize rapidly a “war room”, the use of innovative virtual tools for contact-less communication, and the importance of cooperation with hospital authorities in allocating scarce health-care resources. Finally, the pandemic highlighted and intensified ethical considerations, such as under what circumstances living kidney donation be continued in the face of uncertainty, and what information to provide to altruistic donors regarding a prospective recipient, in particular whether all options for related living donation have been exhausted. These should be addressed now.
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