Between a rock and a hard place: the incommensurate ethics of emotionally-related living organ donation
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Date
2014-05-07
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Abstract
At the end of 2007, over 71,000 candidates in the United
States were awaiting a kidney transplant. That same year, 16,622
kidney transplants took place [1]. The growing shortage of organs
in the face of escalating need has placed pressure on transplant
centers to accept organs from voluntary living donors. Emotionally-
related living organ donation (ERLOD) is becoming increasingly
common. In ERLOD, donors and recipients are genetically
unrelated but linked by close emotional ties. In the case of kidney
transplants, ERLOD achieved over 90% success rates after only
one year [2]. However, the significant need and efficacy of this
practice are not sufficient for its justification; this program must
also be ethically acceptable [3]. Living organ donation in general
raises concerns regarding the acceptable standards of medical
practice and ERLOD in particular poses unique challenges. This
article examines, within a clinical care framework, the ethical
concerns surrounding ERLOD and why these concerns may be
difficult to reconcile from this perspective alone. Discussion may
benefit from using the ethical framework of clinical research in
adjunction with the clinical care framework to offer a more flexible
scope of analysis.
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Keywords
ERLOD, emotionally-related living organ donation, ethics, kidney transplantation
Citation
UOJM 4(1):45-37