Understanding Australian families' organ donation decisions

Abstract

Numbers of deceased organ donors in Australia have increased, but rates of consent to donation remain at around 60%. Increasing family consent is a key target for the Australian Organ and Tissue Authority. Reasons for donation decisions have been reported in the international literature, but little is known of reasons for Australian families' decisions. Potential organ donors in four Melbourne hospitals were identified and 49 participants from 40 families (23 consenting and 17 nonconsenting) were interviewed to understand reasons for consent decisions. Themes for consent to organ donation included that: donation was consistent with the deceased's explicit wishes or known values, the desire t..