Language plays an important role in the misconceptions and fears about organ and tissue donation. Please consider how a donor family and the general public may perceive insensitive terminology. Avoiding terminology that causes concern among donor families and the general public will not only help further their understanding, but will also improve their acceptance of the donation process.
Please use:
"Recover" organs or "Surgical Recovery" of organs instead of "harvest" or "harvesting" of organs. "Harvest" is a word that has long been used by the medical community. However, the public at large associates the word "harvest" with crops, crows, and combines. It can be quite unpalatable, especially to donor families when associated with their loved one's organs. The word "recovery" helps people to understand that the removal of a loved one's organs for transplant is a respectable surgical procedure. |
| "Deceased Donor" or "Deceased Donation" instead of "cadaver" or "cadaveric." In the past, the term donor did not require any specificity. Today as more people choose to become living donors, there is a need to distinguish between living and deceased donors. Reportedly, the term cadaveric depersonalizes the fact that a gift was offered to someone upon an individual's death.
Webster defines cadaver as "dead bodies intended for dissection." This is not the positive message we wish to convey to the public or donor families. |
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"Mechanical Support" or "Ventilated Support" instead of "Life Support." There are two ways to determine death: cardiac death (when the heart stops functioning) and brain death (when the brain stops functioning). The term "life support" proves to be a confusing term when used in conjunction with brain death. When death occurs, there is no support that can make the individual live again. In the presence of brain death, an individual may share the Gift of Life with others through organ donation. The organs are perfused with oxygen for several hours through "mechanical" support. "Mechanical" or "ventilated support" is
an appropriate term for the support given a deceased person in the event of organ donation.
Preferred Terminology
To be used at your own discretion, as a subtle suggestion of preferred terminology.
"Donation after Cardiac Death" instead of "Non-Heart Beating Donation"
"Donor Designation" instead of "First-person Consent"
"Deteriorating to Brain Death" instead of "Progressing to Brain Death"
"Recovering a donor" instead of "Doing a donor"
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