For Victims of Fatal Child Abuse, Who Has the Right to Consent to Organ Donation?

Authors

Stephanie Anne Deutsch
Erin Teeple
Mindy Dickerman
Jennifer Macaulay
Gary Collins

Publication/Presentation Date

9-1-2020

Abstract

In rare circumstances, children who have suffered traumatic brain injury from child abuse are declared dead by neurologic criteria and are eligible to donate organs. When the parents are the suspected abusers, there can be confusion about who has the legal right to authorize organ donation. Furthermore, organ donation may interfere with the collection of forensic evidence that is necessary to evaluate the abuse. Under those circumstances, particularly in the context of a child homicide investigation, the goals of organ donation and collection and preservation of critical forensic evidence may seem mutually exclusive. In this Ethics Rounds, we discuss such a case and suggest ways to resolve the apparent conflicts between the desire to procure organs for donation and the need to thoroughly evaluate the evidence of abuse.

Volume

146

Issue

3

ISSN

1098-4275

Published In/Presented At

Deutsch, S. A., Teeple, E., Dickerman, M., Macaulay, J., & Collins, G. (2020). For Victims of Fatal Child Abuse, Who Has the Right to Consent to Organ Donation?. Pediatrics, 146(3), e20200662. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-0662

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

32817267

Department(s)

Department of Surgery

Document Type

Article