ملاحظات اخلاقی

Background: Kidney transplantation is one of the major progresses of medical science with many ethical debates. The shortage of organs and the increases in waiting list for cadaver transplantation has leaded to transplantation from living donors. In this article, we discuss the ethics of transplantation from living kidney donors. Methods: For compiling this article, we searched in Pubmed and Ovid by the keywords of kidney transplantation, living donor, ethics. Results: At the first, the history and statistics of kidney transplantation in Iran and other countries are reviewed. We discussed the living kidney transplantation regarding to principles of nonmaleficence, autonomy and justice. The ethical issues of different groups of living donors and the proponents and opponents opinions are expressed. Because of the importance of unrelated living donors, this group is discussed more briefly. Conclusion: It is realistic to consider the living kidney transplantation as the last option. Arranging a legal and social organization to control the monetary relationship of the recipients and donors and to determine the preferences of kidney receipt in waiting list is reasonable. It is essential to increase the cadaver transplantation resources to decrease the need of kidney transplantation from living donors.