To the Editor: Richards and Rogers1 claim that antemortem interventions on an organ donor to improve organ viability for donation after cardiac death (DCD), such as administration of heparin and femoral vessel cannulation, are ethically and legally justified. Their reasoning is flawed.

Their ethical argument is twofold. First, they argue that, just as consent for appendicectomy is broad and does not encompass details of the operation, so too the consent for organ donation is broad and does not exclude antemortem procedures. This is drawing a long bow. While details of appendicectomy are in the patient’s best interests while alive, interventions performed on a potential donor while alive for organ procurement after his or her death are not.