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Organ donation after cardiac death: legal and ethical justifications for antemortem interventions

Wendy A Rogers and Bernadette J Richards
Med J Aust 2008; 188 (3): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01574.x
Published online: 4 February 2008

In reply: The issues raised by Rady and colleagues, Tibballs, and Kennedy include claims that antemortem interventions for organ donation after cardiac death (DCD) are harmful, involve inadequate consent procedures, and require abandoning the “dead donor rule”.


  • 1 Department of Medical Education, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA.
  • 2 Law School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA.



  • 1. Verheijde JL, Rady MY, McGregor J. Recovery of transplantable organs after cardiac or circulatory death: transforming the paradigm for the ethics of organ donation. Philos Ethics Humanit Med 2007; 2: 8. DOI: 10.1186/1747-5341-2-8.
  • 2. Bernat JL, D’Alessandro AM, Port FK, et al. Report of a National Conference on Donation after Cardiac Death. Am J Transplant 2006; 6: 281-291.
  • 3. British Transplantation Society. Guidelines relating to solid organ transplants from non-heart beating donors. London: BTS, 2004. http://www.bts.org.uk/Forms/Guidelines_Nov_2004.pdf (accessed Sep 2007).
  • 4. Shemie SD, Baker AJ, Knoll G, et al. National recommendations for donation after cardiocirculatory death in Canada. Donation after cardiocirculatory death in Canada. CMAJ 2006; 175 (8 Suppl): S1-S24.
  • 5. Ornstein C, Weber T. Doctor charged in death of donor. A transplant surgeon is accused of attempting to hasten a patient’s demise in order to make use of his organs. Los Angeles Times 2007; 31 Jul: 1. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/advancedsearch.html (accessed Sep 2007).
  • 6. Harriton v Stevens (2006) 226 CLR 52.
  • 7. Application of Herrington, re King [2007] VSC 151.
  • 8. Richards B, Rogers WA. Organ donation after cardiac death: legal and ethical justifications for antemortem interventions. Med J Aust 2007; 187: 168-170. <MJA full text>

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