Passed by the NKF September 1997 (Amended 2008)

The National Kidney Federation supports the use of elective ventilation.

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Note

Elective ventilation is a procedure that can maintain organs in a viable condition so that they may be made available for transplantation. It applies only to a particular group of people who are in deep coma following a massive brain hemorrhage and medical opinion is that there is no chance of recovery.

The patient is moved from a general ward into intensive care and placed on a ventilator for the purpose of organ donation. Artificial respiration starts after natural breathing ceases. Death is confirmed by tests on the brain stem.