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Brian Vastag

JAMA. 2002;287:2491-2492.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Bethesda, Md—As the federal government launches a campaign to increase organ donation, physicians, bioethicists, and policy makers are becoming more proactive when soliciting consent from family members of deceased patients. A 1993 Gallup poll found that 75% of adults would donate their own organs—and subsequent polls have confirmed that most adults say they would do so—but when offered the chance to donate those of a relative, only about half of the people who are asked consent to doing so.

"Most of our activity focuses on this gap," said John Nelson, who oversees organ donation programs at the Health Resource Services Administration (HRSA). This "donation gap" has led to a crisis in organ transplantation. The number of patients in the United States awaiting an organ transplant grew from just over 20 000 in 1990 to nearly 80 000 as of February; during the same period, the number of cadaveric donors . . . [Full Text of this Article]

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

A Statewide Public Health Approach to Improving Organ Donation: The Massachusetts Organ Donation Initiative
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ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT