practice partner
College ’ s policy provides guidance on requirements
The College ’ s Planning for and Providing Quality End-of-Life Care policy includes information to help physicians comply with the legislative requirements relating to organ and tissue transplantation measures .
The policy states that physicians who work in a designated facility – as appointed by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care – must comply with any policies and procedures established in accordance with the legislation .
Under the Trillium Gift of Life Network Act , a designated facility shall notify the Network as soon as possible when a patient at the facility has died or a physician is of the opinion that the death of a patient at the facility is imminent by reason of injury or disease .
Notifying Trillium Gift of Life Network in advance of any withdrawal of potentially life-saving or life-sustaining treatment is required to ensure the patient ’ s family is able to be approached and affirm the patient ’ s donation decision or make a decision about organ and tissue donation on the patient ’ s behalf .
Physicians who do not work in designated health facilities are advised to provide their patients with the opportunity to make choices with respect to organ and tissue donation , ideally in the context of an ongoing relationship with the patient and before any medical crisis arises . Physicians in these settings may wish to contact or direct patients to Trillium Gift of Life Network for more information and / or for materials or resources at www . giftoflife . on . ca .
expert , most timely , way possible . Published guidelines around end-of-life conversations with families of potential donors are clear . The family of every potential donor should be offered the opportunity of donation in a planned , expert way by trained individuals , decoupled from the delivery of the diagnosis of death or the consensual decision to withdraw life support . This should be done with enough time for families to consider this information . Early notification of Trillium Gift of Life Network before a planned discussion of withdrawal of life support or in all patients at high risk for death will allow Trillium Gift of Life Network to most effectively and seamlessly work with families . We must embrace this and own this practice to ensure every family is offered this choice . In Ontario , we recognize the organ and tissue donation coordinators as the experts in this conversation . They work with physicians in our emergency departments and critical care units to help provide expert , compassionate care to our patients and families . Families faced with this unexpected decision often find long-term comfort in knowing that something good came out of a tragedy . Their pain is given meaning in the knowledge that others will live because of this choice . The families who consent to donation often tell us their grief in some way was tangibly lessened by this choice . The 1,500 people in Ontario waiting for a life-saving organ transplant are counting on us to never miss an opportunity to save a life . We know that by ensuring the choice of donation is offered to families , we improve the quality of care we provide in the last moments . We ensure families have the opportunity and power to make this decision themselves . MD
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Dialogue Issue 2 , 2017