title: Organ Donation After Euthanasia: A Dutch Practical Manual.
abstract: Many physicians and patients do not realize that it is legally and medically possible to donate organs after euthanasia. The combination of euthanasia and organ donation is not a common practice, often limited by the patient's underlying pathology, but nevertheless has been performed >40 times in Belgium and the Netherlands since 2005. In anticipation of patients' requests for organ donation after euthanasia and contributing to awareness of the possibility of this combination among general practitioners and medical specialists, the Maastricht University Medical Center and the Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam have developed a multidisciplinary practical manual in which the organizational steps regarding this combined procedure are described and explained. This practical manual lists the various criteria to fulfill and the rules and regulations the different stakeholders involved need to comply with to meet all due diligence requirements. Although an ethicist was involved in writing this paper, this report is not specifically meant to comprehensively address the ethical issues surrounding the topic. This paper is focused on the operational aspects of the protocol.
authors: Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Bollen
authors: Chair Bureau Donation and Transplantation Coordination, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
authors: W
authors: W
authors: de Jongh
authors: Chair Bureau Donation and Transplantation Coordination, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Hagenaars
authors: Department of Medical Ethics and Philosophy of Health Care, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: van Dijk
authors: Health Law, Faculty of Law, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Ten Hoopen
authors: Department of Hepatobiliary, Transplantation and Endocrine Surgery, Antwerp University Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Ysebaert
authors: Department of Transplantation Surgery, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Ijzermans
authors: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: van Heurn
authors: Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
authors: W
authors: W
authors: van Mook
mesh_terms: D005065:Euthanasia / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000592:standards*; D014019:Tissue Donors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000592:standards*
keywords: assisted suicide; clinical research / practice; donors and donation: donation after circulatory death (DCD); ethics; ethics and public policy; guidelines; law / legislation; organ procurement; organ procurement and allocation; organ transplantation in general; patient education; physician assisted death