E meu filho permanece: sentidos e significados do processo da doação de órgãos na perspectiva das mães de doadores

Abstract

In 2011, in Amazonas, the process of organ transplant from deceased patient in a public hospital was began; this is presented as a praxis of great spread in the State. To comprehend this process it is important to understand the historical processes of transplants, its giving practice, the therapeutic possibilities for those who are on the waiting list, and above all, the experience the families undergo specially from the donor’s mother’s perspective. The donation of organs of deceased patients in the city of Manaus is a recent program in its the health system. This program was implanted to make the therapeutics of transplants possible as a treatment for chronic renal failure. Family authorization is required especially because of the suffering they are going through. Given this great loss - usually a son or daughter – the issue is raised because of a sense of how the mother gives new meaning to the death of a child through organ donation. The purpose of this research is to comprehend the meaning attributed to the donation process in the perspective of the mothers during the post-donation phase, through the Phenomenological-Existential Psychology approach. Two articles were written: the first brings a literature revision about the theme: organ donation, family and structures aspects through the view of the Phenomenological-Existential Psychology, in which there is a general view of the process of organ donation as a translation of new signification to death/donation for the continuity of life. The second shows empirical data using the qualitative research according to the phenomenological methods having 5 son/daughter-donors, from 10 to 19 years old that went through the donation process in from 2012 to 2013, monitored by the Transplant Center of Amazonas. Four categories were created from the discourse: Life suffers with sudden transformations: the facticity; Sudden death crosses the world; Donation: the hard decision making moment; Re-signifying organ donation. The loss of a child and the decision making process towards donation is an experience that brings particular references, mixed feelings and new meanings.