Journal article
For Victims of Fatal Child Abuse, Who Has the Right to Consent to Organ Donation?
Pediatrics (Evanston), v 146(3), p1
01 Sep 2020
PMID: 32817267
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Families of fatally abused children sometimes wish to donate viable organs; this can conflict with the need to collect forensic evidence; we suggest a balanced approach. 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.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- For Victims of Fatal Child Abuse, Who Has the Right to Consent to Organ Donation?
- Creators
- Stephanie Anne Deutsch - Pediatrics and GeneticsErin Teeple - Nemours Alfred I DuPont Hosp Children, Div Pediat Surg, Dept Surg, Wilmington, DE USAMindy Dickerman - DuPontJennifer Macaulay - Alfred I. duPont Hospital for ChildrenGary Collins - Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office
- Publication Details
- Pediatrics (Evanston), v 146(3), p1
- Publisher
- Amer Acad Pediatrics
- Number of pages
- 6
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Pediatrics; Pathology (and Laboratory Medicine)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000562996900053
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85090249620
- Other Identifier
- 991021930443704721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Pediatrics