The organ procurement problem: many causes, no easy solutions

Participants at the Second International Symposium on Organ Procurement, held in 1985 in Detroit, addressed one of the principal problems of organ transplantation: the shortage of suitable donor organs. Several factors were identified as contributing to the shortage--failure to make provision before death for donation, refusal of requests for donation by families of suitable donors, failure of hospital personnel to request donation, inability to match available organs with recipients, and improper organ allocation. The participants rejected adopting a presumed consent policy and advocated laws now being enacted in several states requiring hospital personnel routinely to request donation from family members of suitable brain dead patients.