Survey of pediatricians' opinions on donation after cardiac death: are the donors dead?

Objective: There has been debate in the ethics literature as to whether the donation-after-cardiac-death donor is dead after 5 minutes of absent circulation. We set out to determine whether pediatricians consider the donation-after-cardiac-death donor as dead.

Methods: A survey was mailed to all 147 pediatricians who are affiliated with the university teaching children's hospital. The survey had 4 pediatric patient scenarios in which a decision was made to donate organs after 5 minutes of absent circulation. Background information described the organ shortage, and the debate about the term "irreversibility" applied to death in donation after cardiac death. Descriptive statistics were used, with responses between groups compared by using the chi(2) statistic.

Results: The response rate was 54% (80 of 147). In each scenario, when given a patient described as dead with absent circulation for 5 minutes,
Conclusions: Most pediatrician respondents were not confident that a donation-after-cardiac-death donor was dead. This suggests that additional debate about the concept of irreversibility applied to donation after cardiac death is needed.