Impact of a required request law on vital organ procurement

Steven E. Ross, Howard Nathan, Keith F. O’Malley

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

“Mandatory” or required request for donation of the organs of patients dying in hospitals has been promulgated as a means of increasing the rate of organ harvest and alleviating the critical shortage of transplantable organs. Although the federal and many state governments have passed legislation to make such requests compulsory, the efficacy of this approach has not been demonstrated. Examination of the experience at our trauma center and in this region, before and after the enactment of a “strong” required request law by the State of New Jersey, did not reveal a statistically significant change in organ procurement. We conclude that such laws are unlikely to achieve the desired result in the absence of fundamental changes in the attitudes of the public and treating physicians.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)820-824
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Trauma - Injury, Infection and Critical Care
Volume30
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1990
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Surgery
  • Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine

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