Website of the Department of Health

Legal issues relevant to non-heartbeating organ donation

The Department of Health's view of the legal position in relation to the action that can be lawfully taken prior to death to support non-heartbeating donation, produced in response to Recommendation 3 of the Organ Donation Taskforce Report which states that 'urgent attention is required to resolve outstanding legal, ethical and professional issues in order to ensure that all clinicians are supported and are able to work within a clear and unambiguous framework of good practice.' The intention is that those working in this area will be able to use it to draw up more detailed guidance to support clinical practice. This guidance is only applicable in England and Wales.

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