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Organ donation: a matter of trust

Aric Bendorf
Med J Aust 2009; 191 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2009.tb03350.x
Published online: 7 December 2009

Comment: The families of organ donors are usually deprived of the opportunity to be present when the donor’s heart stops beating. As this personal account by van Os eloquently demonstrates,1 forsaking this opportunity can be experienced as an additional loss — one that exacerbates a family’s trauma during the donation process and that possibly imperils the donation itself. We should not underestimate the cultural significance of heartbeat and breath, and the symbolic importance of the moment in which they cease. Neither is diminished by medical redefinitions of death.


  • Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.


Correspondence: abendorf@med.usyd.edu.au

  • 1. van Os JM. The hidden trauma of organ donation. Med J Aust 2009; 191: 612-613.<eMJA full text>
  • 2. Australian Organ and Tissue Authority. Discover: About organ donation [Organ donation process; Donation after death]. http://www.donate life.gov.au/Discover/About-Organ-Donation.html (accessed Oct 2009).
  • 3. Little M, Jordens CF, McGrath C, et al. Informed consent and medical ordeal: a qualitative study. Intern Med J 2008; 38: 624-628.
  • 4. López Martínez JS, Martín López MJ, Scandroglio B, Martínez García JM. Family perception of the process of organ donation. Qualitative psychosocial analysis of the subjective interpretation of donor and nondonor families. Span J Psychol 2008; 11: 125-136.
  • 5. Jacoby LH, Breitkopf CR, Pease EA. A qualitative examination of the needs of families faced with the option of organ donation. Dimens Crit Care Nurs 2005; 24: 183-189

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