Abstract

KIE: The author provides an overview of the current debate in Sweden over the determination of death and the withholding of treatment, with a brief discussion of organ donation regulations and of resource allocation concerns. A commission appointed by the Secretary of Health and Social Affairs presented a report in 1984 which argued that, if brain functions are totally and irreversibly lost, the person is no longer alive and respirator support should be terminated. This report has raised questions about the increased opportunity for organ transplantation and about ways of ensuring that those who want to can say farewell to their relatives in a dignified way, both before and after respirator support is terminated.