Give and let live : setting up a legislative lifeline to reduce organ shortage

Abstract

While the lack of transplantable organs creates a gaping medical void, the need to replenish the gap has been explored through different avenues, including legal initiatives. This study sheds light on the adoption of an EU wide risk regulation regime which safeguards the qualitative aspect of human organs. Owing to increased patient mobility, the formulation of safety criteria aiming for the prevention of risk spreading is certainly a logical point of departure. Having identified quality and safety measures applied on a level playing field, the study‟s second aim is to examine the importance of consent in post mortem donation. Moving away from a paternalistic attitude, the time has certainly come to acquiesce to the individual‟s bona fide intention to donate his organs after death. Alongside deceased donation, the study explores the possibility of widening the donor recipient relationship in live donations. Surely, living organ donation requires legislators to tread more carefully. However, it is argued that amidst the organ shortage battle, the legal restriction of the donor recipient relationship amounts to artificial organ shortfall. Prima facie, proposals for financial and non financial incentives to prompt more individuals to give the gift of life sound attractive. However, it is argued that overarching patient rights coupled with ethical intricacies defeat their initial potential. On a more national basis, minimum harmonisation measures pertaining to quality and safety of human organs are not sufficient on their own. The need to address other issues such as post mortem organ donation and increased donor and recipient rights is pertinent. On a wider scale, the study concludes that on their own, legal initiatives are too feeble to reduce organ shortage.