To know what deters the families that refuse to donate organs and tissues was the goal of this descriptive quantitative exploratory research, that took place at Hospital Cristo Redentor, Rio Grande do Sul, in a sample of 74 records of families that refused donation in 2008; data collection was retrospective, documentary, among the forms from Intra-hospital Commission on Organ and Tissue Transplant Donation data base. Of the families addressed, 15.7% refused to donate; 48.6% doing so for not knowing the potential donor's choice. From the other reasons cited, 23% pointed the express choice of the living donor not to donate, 17.6% said that it was the family's wish to keep the body intact and 1.4% claimed religious views; 9.4% did not register the reason of the negative response. If one considers that the donation depends exclusively on family authorization, even with acceptable refusal rates, there is a necessity of awareness campaigns, claiming the people to express their wish to donate and to discuss the matter within the family.
Gift giving; Refusal; Family; Nursing
