BMJ 1995;311:121-122 (8 July)

Letters

Intensive care units have good reasons not to do it

EDITOR,--While we can understand the frustration felt by those caring for patients with end organ failure, it is important that the supporters of interventional ventilation question why this procedure has not been adopted widely by intensive care units.1 The reasons go beyond legal issues and inadequate intensive care resources and certainly beyond any emotional feeling against organ donation. Indeed, many intensive care units that are committed to organ donation and enjoy an excellent relationship with transplant centres still have reservations with the practice. Experience with the protocol is limited, and its potential for producing a persistent vegetative state remains unknown. Clearly, if any patient undergoing interventional ventilation survived in a vegetative state this would not be in the best interest of patient, his or her family, or society. This question needs a definitive answer before any point of law is addressed, if only to allow people to give more informed . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

An Ethical Debate: Elective ventilation of potential organ donors
Hany Riad and Anthony Nicholls
BMJ 1995 310: 714-715. [Extract] [Full Text]

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