What Would You Want? Navigating Life, Death, and Organ Donation When the Heart Stops
Donation after circulatory death (DCD) is one of the most promising methods for expanding the organ pool for transplantation. Yet realizing the promise of DCD depends on careful coordination of end-of-life treatment
with organ donation authorization, organ preservation, and recovery. We will discuss ethical and legal considerations in prioritizing goals of care while also optimizing DCD in light of technical challenges, technological innovation, and the sociopolitical landscape of organ donation.
Speaker: Brendan Parent, JD, Associate Professor and Director of Transplant Ethics and Policy Research, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Webinar objectives: Understand the legal frameworks which guide surrogate decision making at the end of life for both clinical treatment and for organ donation. Appreciate the ethical challenge of prioritizing end of life clinical treatment decisions while also optimizing organ donation after circulatory death. Recognize potential paths toward improving communication and maintaining trust in the context of controlled donation after circulatory death.