Ethical and Policy Issues in the Procurement of Cadaver Organs for Transplantation

Abstract

The author describes the current American policy of "voluntarism" for\nprocuring transplantable organs and faults it as inadequate to meet the\ngrowing demand. A general reluctance to discuss death and organ donation, and\nhospitals' fear of legal entanglements have hampered efforts to promote the\nuse of donor cards and to encourage physicians and nurses to approach\nrelatives after the death of suitable donors. Caplan maintains that the\ncurrent federal policy of centralizing the matching of donors and recipients\ndoes not address the problem. He proposes instead a legislatively-imposed\nsystem of "required request," in which hospital personnel would routinely ask\nfamily members about organ donation prior to discontinuing the life-support\nsystems of potential donors. (KIE abstract)