The Ethics of Global Organ Acquisition: Moral Arguments about Transplantation

Description

As the demand for organs continues to outstrip availability and waiting lists surge, the pressure to make morally questionable, unethical decisions becomes more likely and trust in transplant medicine starts to erode. The complex ethical web that constitutes this worldwide exchange of organs and tissues is analysed by medical ethics expert and former health professional, Trevor Stammers.

Key philosophical questions concerning existence, consciousness, the nature of death and the right to life connect organ donation and transplantation to real-life case studies exploring difficulties with the ‘dead donor rule’ for deceased donation, organ donation euthanasia, xenotransplantation and the creation of organoids and ‘organs-on-chips’, alongside examples of human trafficking and systematic state murder to provide organs. Controversial cases from Japan, Germany, USA and Singapore are analysed alongside the Spanish, Welsh, and Chilean experience of deceased donation opt-out schemes to highlight the variety of threats and challenges to public trust in transplant medicine.

Charting these examples provides vital material for debates and discussions in the philosophy of medicine, and medical ethics more generally, with Stammers suggesting viable alternatives to current ethical failings by focusing on the moral arguments that define public trust, moving the debate on transplant ethics in vital new directions.

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