City Research Online

Abstract

It has been suggested that there is a significant conflict of interest between providing best care for the dying patient and a subsidiary role in facilitating the donation process. Should healthcare professionals who are involved in a patient’s care and determination of death also be involved in discussing donation with families? If they are involved, should they disclose this potential conflict of interest? In this paper we address the issue of conflicts of interest in organ donation by examining current best practice in four European countries (Sweden, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain) and discuss whether having clear separation of roles in order to avoid conflicts is preferable to having the same physician (or team) handle both the dying process and donation. We also analyse the benefits and burdens of disclosing such potential conflicts.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 Shaw, Jansen, Pérez-Blanco, Floden, Ploeg, Cooper, Wind and Gardiner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Publisher Keywords:	ethics, conflicts, organ donation, policy, law
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Departments:	School of Health & Medical Sciences School of Health & Medical Sciences > Department of Population Health & Policy
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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