Purpose: As transplantation depends greatly on organ donations, it is very important to gain better understanding of perceptions and attitudes on organ donation. In this paper, we want to evaluate the perceptions and attitudes of Koreans on the brain death and the organ donation.
Methods: The interview survey was carried out on a national scale. Questionnaires were collected from 1,002 adults and analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Results: 51.8% of respondents have positive perceptions on the brain death, and 74.3% of positive respondents on the brain death suppose to agree to the organ donation from the brain dead. 37.1% of respondents have positive perceptions on their own marrow donation, and 76.3% of respondents have positive perceptions on their own kidney or part of liver donation to family members. They consider urgency to be the most important criterion in deciding the order of transplantation, and then recoverability, age, and waiting order are considered to be important criteria in the order. 43.8% respondents think that buying or selling organs should not be allowed in any case, 46.7% think that it could be allowed in some special cases, and 6.1% think that it should be allowed in any case.
Conclusion: The survey results show that Koreans have positive perceptions on the organ donation on the whole. However, the number of cases of organ donations from brain dead donors reduced in recent years after the enactment of the law of organ transplantation. To find a way out of this situation, relevant policies and effective champagnes need to be developed and put into effect.
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