Certified Clinical Transplant Nurse (CCTN) Practice Exam

The dead donor rule is an ethical principle that asserts organs intended for transplantation must only be retrieved from donors who are dead prior to the organ recovery procedure. This rule is grounded in the ethical obligation to respect the deceased's rights and dignity, ensuring that the process does not harm living patients. The concept of death must be clearly established—commonly understood through criteria such as neurological death or circulatory death—before any organ recovery can take place.

This rule is essential for maintaining public trust in the organ donation system and ensuring that organ transplants are performed ethically. It serves to differentiate between living organ donation and deceased organ donation, highlighting the fundamental requirement that the donor must be deceased before any organs can be procured. By adhering to this principle, health care providers can uphold the ethical standards necessary in organ transplantation practices.

The other options address different aspects of organ donation and transplantation processes but do not correctly capture the essence of the dead donor rule. For example, stating a rule that donors must be alive during donation fundamentally contradicts the purpose of organ donation from deceased individuals. Similarly, guidelines for determining organ viability or medical protocols in transplantation deal with other practical considerations and are not specifically about the condition of the donor at the time of organ recovery.