Deceased organ donation is much less prominent in Japan than it is in Western and other Asian countries. Because a shortage of organ donation is a serious social issue in Japan, various solutions to the issue have been considered. Although it was believed that the most critical factor in the organ shortage was the absence of a well-established social system, no prior studies attempted to analyz...

In this paper I explore the human organ procurement system. Which is better for saving lives and limiting black market use, the present altruistic system of donations or a free and open sales market? I explain that there is a risk with maintaining the present system, the altruistic vision, and that people may die who might otherwise live if the sale of organs was permitted. But there is no guar...

The current U.S. policy of "encouraged volunteerism" for the procurement of organs for transplantation is judged to be a failure. Demand is not being met, a complex and inefficient network of profit-making and not-for-profit procurement agencies has developed, and the opportunity for informed consent by relatives or friends in emergency situations is seen to be a "charade." Caplan advocates a...

This Note argues that prisoners, whether executed or living, should not become organ donors. The introduction acknowledges the shortage of transplantable organs in the United States and the steps that have been taken to ameliorate the crisis. Part I discusses the procurement of organs from executed prisoners, beginning with a brief examination of China, a country where this type of procurement ...

OBJECTIVES To examine the impact of presumed consent legislation on organ donation and to review data on attitudes to presumed consent among the public, professionals and any other stakeholders. DATA SOURCES Eight electronic databases (MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, HMIC, PAIS International and OpenSIGLE) were searched from inception to January 2008. Supplementary inte...

A detailed analysis of the Icelandic commercial population-wide genomics database project of deCODE Genetics was performed for the purpose of providing ethics insights into public/private efforts to develop genetic databases. This analysis examines the moral differences between the general case of governmental collection of medical data for public health purposes and the centralized collection ...

In this issue of the journal Rupert Jarvis argues for a simple idea-a 'modest proposal'-that he believes will radically increase the supply of organs for trans-plantation (1). Given the existing shortage of donor organs for transplantation it would be entirely just, he reasons, for our society to give priority for receipt of organs for transplantation to those patients who had previously volunt...