Attitudes of Black South Africans concerning Organ Donation

Abstract

prospectively from February 1, 1992, to January 6, 1994. During this period, 43 black and 1 white braindead potential donors were identified in the GaRankuwa Hospital ICU. Over the same period, 119 living-related potential donors were approached concerning kidney donation for relatives who had chronic kidney failure. The request for organ donation was made by a female black transplant coordinator who communicated in several ethnic languages. Cadaveric donors were accepted based on whether the creatinine level was below 200 μmol/L and whether screening for Hepatitis B, HIV, and possible bacterial infection was negative. Consent for donation from living-related donors did not necessarily result in transplantation because other factors such as tissue typing and mixed lymphocyte cultures were considered. Although current South African law permits retrieval of organs from brain-dead individuals with permission from the hospital superintendent or a magistrate in cases in which relatives could not be traced, such methods were not used in the present study. Donors were not paid for organs, and no contact between relatives of cadaveric donors and recipients was made possible.4