Donation after cardiac death: a survey of university student opinions on death and donation

To determine if university students consider the donation after cardiac death donor as dead. Survey. University students. Medical (n = 142) and nursing (n = 76) students in a medical ethics class and philosophy students (n = 102). Survey during class time with four patient scenarios in which a decision was made to donate organs after 5 min of absent circulation. Half the surveys had brief background information, and half had more detailed background information. Responses between groups were compared using the Chi-square statistic. The response rate of 320 students was 100%. In each scenario, 42-51% of those given detailed information strongly agree or agree that the patient is 'definitely dead', versus 55-58% given brief information (ns). When asked in what state this patient is, 26-30% given detailed information chose dead, versus 41-45% given brief information (P < 0.025). Thirty-six to 39% given detailed information strongly agree or agree that the physician was truthful informing the family that at 5 min of absent circulation the patient is definitely dead, versus 48-52% given brief information (P < 0.01). On at least one of the scenarios, 65% of those given detailed information, and 50% of those given brief information responded uncertain, disagree, or strongly disagree that the patient is definitely dead (P < 0.01). Medical students were significantly less likely to agree that the patients in the scenarios were dead, or that the physicians were being truthful in describing the patients as dead. Most respondents were not confident that a donation after cardiac death donor was actually dead.