Deceased organ and tissue donation after medical assistance in dying and other conscious and competent donors

Release Date:

June, 2019

Report and recommendations

Deceased organ and tissue donation after medical assistance in dying and other conscious and competent donors: guidance for policy (PDF - English)
Don d’organes et de tissus après décès dans le cas de l’aide médicale à mourir et des patients conscients et aptes – document d’orientation
(PDF - en Francais)

Journal publication

Downar J, Shemie SD, Gillrie C, Fortin M.-C, Appleby A, Buchman DZ, Shoesmith C, Goldberg A, Gruben V. Lalani J, Ysebaert D, Wilson L, Sharpe MD for Canadian Blood Services, the Canadian Critical Care Society, the Canadian Society of Transplantation and the Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses. Deceased organ and tissue donation after medical assistance in dying and other conscious and competent donors: guidance for policy CMAJ 2019 June 3;191:E604-13. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.181648

Editorial

Commentary (CMAJ): http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.190352

Johannes Mulder MD. Facilitating the wishes of patients who choose both MAiD and organ donation. CMAJ 2019 June 3;191:E595-6. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.190352

Podcast

CMAJ podcasts: Organ Donation After MAID: https://soundcloud.com/cmajpodcasts/181648-guide
In this interview, Dr. James Downar (co-author of policy guidance) and Dr. Jennifer Hancock (an intensive care physician in Halifax) take listeners through considerations of having a patient who requests medical assistance in dying (MAiD) or withdrawal of life-sustaining measures (WLSM) and who also requests to have his or her organs donated.

Note: This report and the published manuscript have been endorsed by the Canadian Critical Care Society, the Canadian Society of Transplantation, and the Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses.