Customising Health Literacy Campaigns for Organ Donation and Transplantation: Understanding the Issue From the Public, Patients, and Future Doctors

Family Refusal

Family refusal is one of the main reasons for missed transplants. Although people may wish to become organ donors after their death, their wish may not be respected if their families who are called to consent for donation to take place are unaware of the deceased’s wishes. According to NHSBT data regarding the family consent figures in the UK, in 2018-2019 67% families agreed to give consent for organ donation. The majority of the families that refused to consent were not aware of the deceased person’s wishes, while some others decided to overturn the deceased’s decision as it may have conflicted with their own personal views and beliefs. As a result, the opportunity to transplant thousands of organs was missed. Several factors impact the quality of the family approach, including the timing of the donation request as well as the skills of the appointed person requesting the donation may be factors influencing family’s consent (Hulme et al, 2016).

In some cases, the deceased patient’s decision may not be respected by the family and not give consent on the organ donation. Family overrule may be based on various reasons (Shaw et al, 2020), but ethical issues arise when family values are placed higher than patient’s wishes. Communication of wishes and decisions with family members plays an important role in taking the burden from the family during a sensitive time.