Presumed consent: a problematic concept.

issue, that of the increasing shortage of kidneys available for transplantation worldwide (1). As a solution for India, Kaushik favours the introduction of the “presumed consent” system to allow retrieval of organs from recently deceased persons. In this system, unless an individual has specifically expressed, in writing, during her/his lifetime, that he/she is unwilling to donate an organ following death, his/her organs can be routinely harvested by healthcare professionals for transplantation into others. In our commentary we examine some of the arguments put forward by the author in support of presumed consent, and discuss ethical, professional and social problems connected to the use of this system as a way to address the scarcity of transplantable organs. However, we will begin by first highlighting what we consider to be a critical factual error in the article.