Preparing for the inevitable: The death of a living liver donor

[Clark]

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lt.23637/abstract

Preparing for the inevitable: The death of a living liver donor
Charles Miller MD1, Martin L Smith STD2, Masato Fujiki MD1, Teresa Diago Uso MD1,*, Cristiano Quintini MD1
DOI: 10.1002/lt.23637
Liver Transplantation
Accepted Article (Accepted, unedited articles published online and citable. The final edited and typeset version of record will appear in future.)

Abstract
Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is associated with a low but finite and well documented risk of donor morbidity and mortality, therefore organizations and individuals involved in this activity must accept the fact that donor death is as a question of "when, not if".

Studies in the field of crisis management show that "preparing for the inevitable" not only is critical in preparing Institutions to better respond to catastrophic events, but more importantly play a crucial role in preventing them.

This manuscript describes the background of crisis management with specific reference to the death of a living liver donor and propose a general framework that can be adopted by living donor liver transplant programs around the world.