Informed Consent of Living Kidney Donors: Pitfalls and Best Practice

Abstract Informed consent is clearly considered the ethical bedrock fundamental to living organ donation, a procedure lacking medical benefits for its participants. Recent guidelines have focused on strengthening content components of living kidney donor informed consent, including Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN)/United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policies that prescribe key components, and integration of the Independent Living Donor Advocate (ILDA), as mandated by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the OPTN/UNOS. The European Union member states’ Working Group on Living Donation provided recommendations for care standardization in the “Toolbox Living Kidney Donation,” including integration of an independent clinician advocate. However, even with these changes, studies suggest inconsistency in informed consent elements across transplant programs, and retrospective studies show that although the vast majority of living donors (LDs) reflect back positively on the experience of donation, some describe lacking complete knowledge of risks (or process) before donation. Processes to assure achievement of informed consent remain in the purview of individual transplant centers to implement and measure. Herein, methods to assess prospective LD intentionality, voluntariness, and understanding of risks/benefits are described, with promising techniques highlighted and recommendations for best practice outlined. Specific c...
Source: Current Transplantation Reports - Category: Transplant Surgery Source Type: research