nvic academy

In September 2013, an article addressing organ donationafter active euthanasia was published in theDutch Journalof Medicine(1). A patient suffering from a progressiveneurodegenerative disease was able to donate his liverand both kidneys. Organ donation after euthanasia hasbeen described previously, with excellent transplant out-come (2).Prior to December 2015, organ donation after euthanasiawas performed 15 times in the Netherlands and resulted indonation of eight pairs of lungs, 13 livers, 13 pancreasesand 29 kidneys. These developments necessitated the cre-ation of a practical manual addressing the combination ofboth procedures because of the unique and complex legaland ethical issues, together with the appropriate medicalcare (3). This manual can be used as a framework for hospi-tals that wish to facilitate such successive procedures. Theessential components of the practical manual, developedby the collaborative efforts of the Maastricht UniversityMedical Center and the Erasmus Medical University Medi-cal Center Rotterdam, are discussed below.Although the manual addresses euthanasia and organdonation in the Netherlands, many of the issues raised anddiscussed may be similar or comparable to those in anycountry that allows organ donation in the setting ofeuthanasia. A discussion of ethical considerations is notincluded in this paper, but this is not intended to dismissthe necessary ethical discussions to be held in this domain.