City Research Online

Abstract

Controlled Organ Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD) was re-introduced in the UK in 2008, in efforts to increase rates of organs for transplant. Following reintroduction, there were debates about the ethics of DCD, including whether potential DCD donors receive end-of-life care which is in their best interests. Since this time, DCD has become a routine donor pathway in the NHS. In this paper, we present findings from an ethnographic study examining the everyday practices of DCD in two English Trusts. Drawing on the concept of death brokering and Bea’s (2020) call to consider organ donation as embedded and routine practice within healthcare, we look at how DCD is integrated into end-of-life care in Intensive Care Units. We show how DCD is made routine at the end-of-life via the practices of health professionals who create an active separation between discussions about death and donation; reproduce usual ways of doing things in end-of-life care; and respect the distinction between patient/donor, dying and death. In doing so, we argue these function to preserve the patienthood of the potential donor, ensuring DCD operates as an integrated part, and culturally accepted form of, good end-of-life care for potential donors, their relatives, and health professionals alike.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2024 The Author(s). Sociology of Health & Illness published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness.
Publisher Keywords:	bioethics, death and dying, end of life care, intensive care, organ donation
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA1001 Forensic Medicine. Medical jurisprudence. Legal medicine R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Healthcare Services Research & Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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