Diagnosing death
In this special podcast episode, produced jointly with the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, Dr Danny Bryden, Dr Dale Gardiner and Dr Ian Thomas discuss when and how to diagnose death for the purposes of organ donation, and the implications of recent changes to guidance issued by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges for anaesthetists and intensivists.
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Danny is a Consultant in adult Intensive Care Medicine in Sheffield. In October 2022 she became FICM Dean, and embarked on leading the Faculty in work to form a UK College of ICM. Danny’s other previous professional roles have included working on FICM Board as Lead Regional Advisor and Chair of the Careers, Recruitment and Workforce committee. Other roles have included a secondment to NHS Resolution advising on medical performance issues, an Associate Postgraduate Dean and National Critical Care Tutor for the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Her clinical and research interests are focused on decision making and frailty assessment in critical care. Danny also has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law which have led to her medical professional interests in the wider area of medical professionalism and medical leadership.
She was part of the AoMRC’s working party developing the new guidance on the diagnosis of death.
Dr Dale Gardiner, MBBS MBioEth, FRCA, FFICM
Dr Dale Gardiner is a Consultant in Adult Intensive Care Medicine at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and the Associate Medical Director – Deceased Organ Donation at NHS Blood and Transplant.
His professional interests are medical ethics, the diagnosis of death and deceased organ donation.
Dale is a Board Member of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and Chair of the Professional Affairs and Safety Committee. He is co-chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges task and finish group to update the 2008 Code of Practice for the Diagnosis and Confirmation of Death.
Originally, Dale came from Australia but migrated to the UK in 2002.
Ian Thomas is a Consultant in Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine at Southmead Hospital in Bristol. In 2009 he was awarded a Masters Degree in Medical Ethics and Law with Distinction by the University of Keele. He is a member of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine's Legal and Ethical Policy Unit and a former Chair of the Bristol Clinical Ethics Advisory Group. He is also the UK Lead for Operational Performance in Deceased Organ Donation alongside the role of Regional Lead for Organ Donation in the South West of England