There is a duty of care to the donor and/or donor’s family. For donors who on confirmatory testing have positive or indeterminate results, there should be protocols in place for contacting, informing, and referring the donor, for further investigation and treatment as appropriate. Similarly, there should be processes in place for informing relevant contacts of deceased donors as appropriate.
Confidentiality must be ensured, and for living donors, the donor’s permission sought prior to referral for further medical follow-up and assessment. If the donor is still in hospital, the results may be given through the medical team, provided that this is covered by the consent.
In the case of a deceased organ and tissue donor, the initial contact should be by the medical team who provided clinical care at the time of death, or in the case of a deceased tissue donor where death occurred outside a healthcare facility by the Specialist Nurse Organ Donation or the Tissue Establishment. They should ensure that those close contacts of the deceased donor for whom results may have health implications are appropriately informed.