An Ethics Committee’s Evaluation of Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP) in 2018–Unsatisfactory Answers Then—and Now

Abstract

An adult university hospital ethics committee evaluated a proposed TA-NRP protocol in the fall of 2018. The protocol raised ethical concerns about violation of the Uniform Determination of Death Act and the prohibition known as the Dead Donor Rule, with potential resultant legal consequences. An additional concern was the potential for increased mistrust by the community of organ donation and transplantation. The ethics committee evaluated the responses to these concerns as unable to surmount the ethical and legal boundaries and the ethics committee declined to endorse the procedure. These concerns endure.

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