Direct+Donation-Organ+Ownership

Direct Donation/Organ Ownership By: Kaitlyn Cowell

Is the Donor the Owner? Direct donation is giving your organs to a specified person. This raises the controversy of whether or not body parts can be owned.

In a particular case, Rachel Leake was in the end-stage of renal failure and is currently on haemodialysis requested she received one of her deceased daughter's kidneys as it would have been what her daughter wanted. But the request was denied. Is this okay? http://ce.rsmjournals.com/content/3/3/127.full

One issue that arises with the controversy is the pressure families would feel to donate their organs to their loved ones. There are "situations in which people feel compelled to donate regardless of the consequences to themselves" (Truog M.D.). Doctors are required to discourage people from risking their lives unless the success chances are large. Physicians are risking the lives of a healthy person to safe a patient. This is an ethical dilemma. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp058155

"'The laws and regulations surrounding deceased organ donation, allocation, and transplantation have purposefully established a legal infrastructure that excludes property law concepts...Instead, organs are donated voluntarily (not sold or appropriated) and are regulated as a scarce natural resource'" (Howley). Donors are typically unaware of where their organs go after they die, and it is encouraged that donations go on the centralized donors list. []