Organ Donation After MAID - U.S. Possibilities

All patients who die from medical aid in dying (MAID) in the United States die from self-ingesting medications, typically orally. None is clinician administered,. None is by IV. It has long been thought that this precludes organ donation. But the Australian case of Karen Duncan shows that self-ingested MAID may permit donation.

Only 10-15% of U.S. MAID deaths would even be eligible for donation. And only a subset of those patients would want to die under conditions (e.g., in a hospital) that would permit donation. But at a time where OPOs are pushing boundaries with DCD and NRP to maximize numbers, they should investigate how to obtain organs from some of the thousands of annual MAID cases across 14 U.S. jurisdictions.