Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

In the past decades, the need for organ donation has increased while consent rate continues to remain inadequate. One of the most important limiting factors in organ donation is families’ refusal to grant consent, and therefore it is important to determine the circumstances influencing the phenomenon. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors affecting consent to organ donation in families of brain death patients in hospitals affiliated with Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. For this purpose, a self-made questionnaire was distributed among 54 family members of brain death patients admitted in hospitals affiliated with Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences between 2003 and 2013. The data were reported as mean, frequency and percentage using the SPSS16 software. The average age of the deceased was 31.38 ± 13.72 years, and car accidents were the most frequent cause of brain death (59.3%) in this study. In addition, 72.2% of the deceased were male and 90.7% of them lived in or around the city of Shahrekord. About 37% of the families consented to organ donation. The average age of the family members who participated in the study was 42.15 ± 8.9 years. The most frequent reasons affecting families’ consent to organ donation were religious rewards (100%), confidence in the medical team and staff (100%), and confidence in physician diagnosis (100%).The findings of the study show that religion, faith and family ties affect the willingness for organ donation, and therefore specific attention should be given to these factors in educational programs. In the present study, religious beliefs and confidence in the performance of health care workers were highlighted as the most effective factors in consent to organ donation in brain dead patients' families. Consequently, in order to increase organ donation rate, special attention to these factors and proper planning is necessary.