Potential Number of Organ Donors After Euthanasia in Belgium

Abstract

Organ donation after euthanasia involves patients whose request to undergo euthanasia has been granted and who voluntarily want to donate their organs after death. It requires patients to undergo euthanasia in the hospital, and organ donation is performed after circulatory death. The practice is controversial and currently only allowed in Belgium and the Netherlands. Even in these countries, it is rarely performed; as of August 2016, 43 patients undergoing euthanasia had donated organs. 1 Organ donation after euthanasia has been described in a practical manual, which addresses the medical, ethical, and legal aspects of performing euthanasia and donation after circulatory death. 2 Donation after euthanasia could potentially help ease the shortage of organs for transplantation. It is unknown how many of these patients would be medically suitable to donate organs. 3 We examined the number of patients undergoing euthanasia in Belgium who could potentially donate at least 1 organ.

Deceased organ and tissue donation after medical assistance in dying and other conscious and competent donors: guidance for policy

“…Finally, although some authors have suggested that organ donation after MAiD might have a substantial impact on organ availability, 29,30 the practice of organ donation after MAiD in Canada is still rare. More data about this practice must be collected to determine whether this guidance document is helpful or needs to be updated.…”

Organ donation after euthanasia in children: Belgian and Dutch perspectives

“…Lungs, liver, pancreas (islets) and kidneys can be donated and—if applicable—tissues as well. The preliminary transplantation results are promising, and organ donation after euthanasia is is thus clearly of benefit to patients awaiting transplantation 2 34 is beyond the scope of this article.…”

People Facing the Question of Euthanasia: Patients, Family and Friends, Healthcare Workers

“…Finally, there is the question, practical yet morally unacceptable, of the connection between euthanasia and the supply of organs for transplant. A letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association [13] calculates that among the 2023 persons who were officially listed as having died by euthanasia in Belgium in 2015, 204 would have been eligible as organ donors, and then compares this number with that of the patients awaiting organ donation. Any healthcare worker who has worked in intensive care knows the extreme vigilance employed to keep the team taking care of the patient distinct from that which evaluates his/her for brain death as a potential organ donor.…”