Dead Donor Rule and Organ Donation
Devan and Tyler talk with Dr. Adam Omelianchuk about a new publication on the Dead Donor Rule. We discuss the origins of the rule and why there is controversy about when and how we can tell if someone is dead. They talk about a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine. Find it here: Carter Winberg, Ian Ball & Robert D. Truog, Contextualizing the Dead Donor Rule in an Era of Voluntary Euthanasia, 395 New Eng. J. Med. 194 (2026).
Additional Material and Readings:
Michael Nair-Collins, Sydney R Green, Angelina R Sutin, “Abandoning the dead donor rule? A national survey of public views on death and organ donation,” (2015) J Med Ethics 41(4):297-302. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2014-102229.
Rob Stein, A New Proposal for Organ Donation Sparks Concern, NPR (July 8, 2026), https://www.npr.org/2026/07/08/nx-s1-5883714/organ-transplant-death-donation.
Adam Omelianchuk, Alexander Morgan Capron, Lainie Friedman Ross, Arthur R. Derse, James L. Bernat, David Magnus. "Neither Ethical nor Prudent: Why Not to Choose Normothermic Regional Perfusion" Hastings Center Reports. 2024
Adam Omelianchuk, James Bernat, Arthur Caplan, David Greer, Christos Lazaridis, Ariane Lewis, Thaddeus Pope, Lainie Friedman Ross, David Magnus. " Revise the Uniform Determination of Death Act to Align the Law With Practice Through Neurorespiratory Criteria." Neurology. 2022 Mar 29; 98 (1) : 532-536.
Adam Omelianchuk. " The inviolateness of life and equal protection: a defense of the dead-donor rule. " Theor Med Bioeth. 2022 Feb ; 43 (1): 1-27.
Adam Omelianchuk. " Brain Death as the End of a Human Organism as a Self-moving Whole." J Med Philos. 2021 Oct 1; 46 (5) : 530-560.
Scott J. Schweikart, “Reexamining the Flawed Legal Basis of the “Dead Donor Rule” as a Foundation for Organ Donation Policy,” AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(12):E1019-1024. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.1019
Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Ethics Committee. (2016, December). Ethical considerations of imminent death donation white paper. Health Resources and Services Administration. https://www.hrsa.gov/optn/professionals/resources/ethical-considerations/imminent-death-donation-white-paper