Autonomy in organ donations v family consent: A South African legislative context

Informed Consent Versus Presumed Consent The Role of the Family in Organ Donations

Two types of legislation underlie cadaveric organ donations: presumed consent (PC) and informed consent (IC). In informed consent countries, people are only donors when deceased if they registered to do so while alive. Conversely, in presumed consent countries, anybody is a potential donor when deceased. People have thus to register if they do not want to donate their body. PC has always been p...

Presumed consent, autonomy, and organ donation.

I argue that a policy of presumed consent for cadaveric organ procurement, which assumes that people do want to donate their organs for transplantation after their death, would be a moral improvement over the current American system, which assumes that people do not want to donate their organs. I address what I take to be the most important objection to presumed consent. The objection is that i...

Rethinking legislative consent law?

Autonomy of the child in the South African context: is a 12 year old of sufficient maturity to consent to medical treatment?

BACKGROUND A child is a developing person with evolving capacities that include autonomy, mental (decisional) capacity and capacity to assume responsibility. Hence, children are entitled to participatory (autonomy) rights in South Africa as observed in the Children's Act 38 of 2005. According to section 129 of the Act a child may consent to his or her own medical treatment provided that he or s...

Increasing consent for organ donation: mandated choice, individual autonomy, and informed consent.