On harm thresholds and living organ donation: must the living donor benefit, on balance, from his donation?

Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy
Nicola Jane Williams

Abstract

For the majority of scholars concerned with the ethics of living organ donation, inflicting moderate harms on competent volunteers in order to save the lives or increase the life chances of others is held to be justifiable provided certain conditions are met. These conditions tend to include one, or more commonly, some combination of the following: (1) The living donor provides valid consent to donation. (2) Living donation produces an overall positive balance of harm-benefit for donors and recipients which cannot be obtained in a less harmful manner. (3) Donation is not liable to cause significant and long-term morbidity to, or the death of, the donor. This paper critically examines the suggestion that these criteria are not sufficient to offer a general account of justified living organ donation in the context of competent volunteers and that key to justified living organ donation is that donors receive sufficient benefits from their donation that these outweigh the harms they suffer. However, although this view-termed here 'The Donor Benefit Standard'-directs welcome attention to the many and complex motives which may underlie living organ donation, this paper ultimately concludes that given the threats this position poses t...Continue Reading

References

Sep 1, 1967·Annals of Internal Medicine·T E Starzl
Dec 13, 1984·The New England Journal of Medicine·N G Levinsky
Apr 1, 1995·Journal of Medical Ethics·C Elliott
Jan 1, 1975·Philosophy : the Journal of the British Institute of Philosophical Studies·John Harris
Mar 30, 2004·Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics : CQ : the International Journal of Healthcare Ethics Committees·Aaron Spital
Sep 16, 2004·American Journal of Transplantation : Official Journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons·Aaron Spital
Jun 9, 2005·The New England Journal of Medicine·Sherman J SilberRoger G Gosden
Oct 11, 2005·American Journal of Transplantation : Official Journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons·Aaron Spital
Oct 13, 2006·Pediatric Transplantation·Nicholas J A Webb, Peter-Marc Fortune
Nov 15, 2006·Transplantation·Aaron Spital, James Stacey Taylor
Nov 30, 2006·Liver Transplantation : Official Publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society·Yesim ErimWolfgang Senf
Feb 13, 2007·American Journal of Transplantation : Official Journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons·K K ClemensUNKNOWN Donor Nephrectomy Outcomes Research (DONOR) Network
Jul 25, 2007·Clinical Transplantation·Aaron Spital, Cheryl L Jacobs
Aug 21, 2007·Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN·Aaron Spital, James Stacey Taylor
May 1, 2008·American Journal of Transplantation : Official Journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons·A Spital, J S Taylor
Jul 18, 2008·Transplantation Reviews·Sheila G Jowsey, Terry D Schneekloth
Jun 24, 2009·Transplantation Proceedings·S WiedebuschA M Buyx
Feb 6, 2010·Journal of Medical Ethics·David Wendler
Jan 4, 2012·Annals of Internal Medicine·Lois Snyder, UNKNOWN American College of Physicians Ethics, Professionalism, and Human Rights Committee
Dec 5, 2012·Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics : CQ : the International Journal of Healthcare Ethics Committees·Govert den Hartogh
Apr 24, 2013·Reproductive Biomedicine Online·Françoise Baylis
Oct 11, 2014·Lancet·Mats BrännströmLars Nilsson
Jun 20, 2015·Lancet·Peter P ReeseAmit X Garg

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

May 20, 2021·Transplant International : Official Journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation·Rachel ThomasGabriel C Oniscu
Jun 24, 2021·Progress in Transplantation : Official Publication, North American Transplant Coordinators Organization ... [et Al.]·Sarah B Vittone, Nancy A Crowell

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Methods Mentioned

BETA
amputation

Software Mentioned

Spital

Related Concepts

Trending Feeds

COVID-19

Coronaviruses encompass a large family of viruses that cause the common cold as well as more serious diseases, such as the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19; formally known as 2019-nCoV). Coronaviruses can spread from animals to humans; symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties; in more severe cases, infection can lead to death. This feed covers recent research on COVID-19.

Blastomycosis

Blastomycosis fungal infections spread through inhaling Blastomyces dermatitidis spores. Discover the latest research on blastomycosis fungal infections here.

Nuclear Pore Complex in ALS/FTD

Alterations in nucleocytoplasmic transport, controlled by the nuclear pore complex, may be involved in the pathomechanism underlying multiple neurodegenerative diseases including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia. Here is the latest research on the nuclear pore complex in ALS and FTD.

Applications of Molecular Barcoding

The concept of molecular barcoding is that each original DNA or RNA molecule is attached to a unique sequence barcode. Sequence reads having different barcodes represent different original molecules, while sequence reads having the same barcode are results of PCR duplication from one original molecule. Discover the latest research on molecular barcoding here.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disease characterized by unexplained disabling fatigue; the pathology of which is incompletely understood. Discover the latest research on chronic fatigue syndrome here.

Evolution of Pluripotency

Pluripotency refers to the ability of a cell to develop into three primary germ cell layers of the embryo. This feed focuses on the mechanisms that underlie the evolution of pluripotency. Here is the latest research.

Position Effect Variegation

Position Effect Variagation occurs when a gene is inactivated due to its positioning near heterochromatic regions within a chromosome. Discover the latest research on Position Effect Variagation here.

STING Receptor Agonists

Stimulator of IFN genes (STING) are a group of transmembrane proteins that are involved in the induction of type I interferon that is important in the innate immune response. The stimulation of STING has been an active area of research in the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Here is the latest research on STING receptor agonists.

Microbicide

Microbicides are products that can be applied to vaginal or rectal mucosal surfaces with the goal of preventing, or at least significantly reducing, the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. Here is the latest research on microbicides.

Related Papers

The American Journal of Bioethics : AJOB
Hannah Chimowitz, Robert Sade
Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation
Abbey Kruper, Stephanie C Zanowski
© 2022 Meta ULC. All rights reserved