ABSTRACT
The BMA Guidance suggests that another way of increasing the number of organs available for donation is by the use of elective ventilation. Elective ventilation involves ventilating a selected group of patients, who are in deep coma and close to death with no possibility of recovery, for a short period (usually only a few hours) before death is confirmed, to preserve their organs for long enough to prepare for their removal after death. In fact, elective ventilation was introduced in Exeter with strict controls in 1988 and this led to a 50% increase in the number of organs suitable for transplantation, but the practice was stopped abruptly in 1994 when the Department of Health declared it unlawful. The law as it stands is that to protect people who are not competent to make decisions for themselves, procedures may only be undertaken which are necessary and are intended to be in the patient’s best interests; any other intervention is unlawful.
