[Certain aspects of the relationship between the patient with a heart transplant and the donor's family].

The anonimity of cardiac transplant donors and recipients is protected by law but very often media and the press disclose information that are supposed to be strictly confidential. Aim of the survey was to explore how many cardiac transplant recipients are aware of the identity of the donors, if they had any kind of contact with the family of the donor and their overall opinion on the law that protects anonymity. All the patients who underwent a cardiac transplant in the Bergamo Hospital from 1985 to 1991 were mailed a questionnaire. 152 of 154 questionnaires were returned (two patients had died). Only a minority of subjects 44 (29%) contacted the family of the donor and 36 (86.3%) were still in touch. 50% of the subjects knew the name of the donor; 67% of patients would disclose the information of the identity of the donor only if specifically requested by both parties. The results of the survey stress the importance of the issue of the cardiac transplant patients information, both for the patient and the staff.