Complicated Grief and PTSD in Organ Donation Surrogates for Non-Registered Brain-Dead ICU Patients

Sunday, March 22, 2026

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Central Time

Location: Connections Central - RST 03

GK

Gregory Kurgansky, DO

Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose.
EL

Elaine Lo, MPH

Clinical Research Coordinator, Neurocritical Care
The University of Chicago

Disclosure information not submitted.
AM

Ali Mansour, MD

Associate Professor of Neurology
University of Chicago

Disclosure information not submitted.
ER

Elida Romo, N/A

Clinical Research Coordinator
University of Chicago

Disclosure information not submitted.
JB

Janet Brettger, ScD

Adjunct Associate
Duke University

Disclosure information not submitted.
CL

Christos Lazaridis, MD, EDIC

Professor of Neurology
University of Chicago Medical Center

Disclosure information not submitted.
Tracey H. Fan, MD (she/her/hers)

University of Chicago, Illinois

Disclosure information not submitted.
WR

William Roth, MD

Assistant Professor of Neurology
The University of Chicago

Disclosure information not submitted.
EC

Elizabeth Carroll, MD

Assistant Professor of Neurology
University of Chicago

Disclosure information not submitted.
DH

Deborah Huang, MD

Assistant Professor of Neurology
University of Chicago

Disclosure information not submitted.
FF

Farima Fakhri, MD

Clinical Research Coordinator
University of Chicago

Disclosure information not submitted.
FG

Fernando Goldenberg, MD

Director, Neuroscience Critical Care
University of Chicago Medical Center

Disclosure information not submitted.
DH

David Hwang, MD, FCCM

Division Chief – Neurocritical Care
UNC School of Medicine

Disclosure information not submitted.

Introduction: Despite challenges that many surrogate decision-makers (SDMs) of non-registered brain-dead patients face with organ donation authorization, psychological outcomes amongst these families have not been studied in the U.S. The purpose of this study was to address this knowledge gap. We hypothesized SDMs who authorized donation would have lower complicated grief and PTSD rates than those who didn't.

Methods: Our mixed methods study included telephone-administered surveys with SDMs of non-registered brain-dead patients who expired from 01/2017-12/2021 in hospitals within the Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network. A convenience sample of 95 SDMs were contacted from 20'-23'. In addition to patient and family member demographic covariates, we recorded whether family members authorized or declined organ donation as our primary exposure. Our interests were (1) the proportion of families meeting the criteria for complicated grief via the Complicated Grief Assessment (CGA) and (2) the median score on the Impact of Event Scale–Revised (IES-R) as a measure of PTSD. We used Fisher’s exact test and the Mann-Whitney U test, respectively, to compare groups.

Results: In our cohort, 68 families authorized organ donation, while 27 did not. The median time from brain death to interview was 24 months (IQR 11, 34 months). Amongst those families who authorized donation, 16 (24%) met criteria for complicated grief on the CGA, compared to 8 (30%) amongst those who did not authorize (p=0.5). The median score on the IES-R for families who authorized donation was 5 (IQR 1, 19) vs. 8 (IQR 4, 31) for families who did not authorize (p=0.2). Descriptive analysis of patient and family covariates suggested that both patient and family race, as well as family level of religion/spirituality, were significantly associated with family decision to donate.

Conclusions: Our study did not demonstrate an association between a family’s decision to authorize organ donation for a brain-dead patient and subsequent symptoms of complicated grief and PTSD, suggesting families experienced grief and stress similarly in both groups. We note that overall median PTSD scores for our cohort are lower than those reported in similar outcome studies of families of organ donation patients in other countries, which could warrant future investigation.