Evaluating the “family veto” of consent for organ donation

Consent for organ donation.

Improving the consent rate for solid organ donation from deceased donors is a key component of strategies in the UK and other countries to increase the availability of organs for transplantation. In the UK, the law is currently clear on what forms consent may take, with the views of the individual expressed previously in life taking priority. Such views may have been expressed prospectively, vi...

Assisting altruism: evaluating legally binding consent in organ donation policy.

The growing need for organ and tissue transplants has led a number of states to enforce a policy that views a donor's declared intent to be an organ donor as legally binding. This allows health officials to harvest organs without the permission of the next of kin. Legally binding consent is controversial because of concerns that it may anger family members, lead to negative publicity, and disco...

Living Organ Donation: Consent Challenges

Implied consent for cadaveric organ donation.

Few issues in medicine have received more attention recently than the need for cadaveric organ donation. In the study by Overcast et al,' published in this issue, the influence and effect of donor card programs on organ procurement was examined and found to be inconsequential. This negative conclusion is apt to dampen the enthusiasm of legislators in states where active consideration is being g...

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...