Bioethics Forum Essay
From Jackie and Me: A Plea for Opt-Out Organ Donation
Three weeks ago, my dear friend Jackie, a internationally recognized bioethicist in her fifties who lives in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, went to bed with what she thought was a bad case of...Read “From Jackie and Me: A Plea for Opt-Out Organ Donation”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Getting By with a Little Help from Your Friends
If the mutilated body of one of your research subjects is discovered in a blood-soaked bathroom, who should investigate the death? If you want to be cleared of blame, it’s...Bioethics Forum Essay
When Are Organ Recipients Human Research Subjects?
Do the recipients of organ transplants have a right to know if the organs they are about to receive were part of a research study? If so, are the recipients...Hastings Center News
Defining Death: Public Event Explores the Legacy of Brain Death and the Future of Organ Transplantation
Defining Death: Organ Transplantation and the 50-Year Legacy of the Harvard Report on Brain Death, the 2018 Harvard Medical School’s Annual Bioethics Conference, took place from April 11 to 13...Bioethics Forum Essay
Evaluating Recommendations to Increase Organ Donation
While the U.S. system of organ donation and transplantation is in a state of growth for the fifth year in a row, the call for new strategies to accelerate that...Read “Evaluating Recommendations to Increase Organ Donation”
Bioethics Forum Essay
U.S. Organ Donation Needs Better Oversight, but New Rule Will Not Help
More than 100,000 people in this country are waiting for a life-saving transplant and on average 30 people die each day while waiting. The nonprofit organizations responsible for coordinating organ transplants between donors and recipient could be doing more to lower these numbers. A new government proposal designed to more closely regulate OPOs could, in some respects, actually make the situation worse.Read “U.S. Organ Donation Needs Better Oversight, but New Rule Will Not Help”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Kidney Donors Should Be Treated Like Philanthropists, Not Like Vendors
Several years ago, one of us decided to donate a kidney to someone who needed one. She didn’t anticipate the difficulties that would arise from the process by which donors are evaluated.Read “Kidney Donors Should Be Treated Like Philanthropists, Not Like Vendors”
Bioethics Forum Essay
New Regulation for Organ Procurement Will Improve Equity and Save Lives
In the more than 35 years since federal legislation created organ procurement organizations (OPOs) to recover organs from deceased donors for transplantation, there has been a disparity in their performance,...Read “New Regulation for Organ Procurement Will Improve Equity and Save Lives”
Bioethics Forum Essay
What Every Prospective Living Kidney Donor Should Know
There is a growing call for the lifetime risk of living kidney donation to be disclosed to prospective donors. This information is essential for informed consent.Read “What Every Prospective Living Kidney Donor Should Know”
Hastings Center News
Ethical and Policy Guidance for Translational Xenotransplantation Clinical Trials
Xenotransplantation is a novel experimental treatment that involves transplanting organs from nonhuman animals into humans to reduce the organ shortage—a public health problem. A new four-year research study, supported by...Read “Ethical and Policy Guidance for Translational Xenotransplantation Clinical Trials”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Individuals Declared Brain-Dead Remain Biologically Alive
A remarkable experiment raises anew questions about whether brain-death is really death.Read “Individuals Declared Brain-Dead Remain Biologically Alive”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Xenotransplantation: Three Areas of Concern
News of the first transplant of a pig’s heart into a human raises hope that the procedure could one day help alleviate the shortage of organs. But before we forge ahead with xenotransplantation trials, we should be concerned about several issues: the potential to spread pathogens, exploitation of human research participants, and animal welfare.Bioethics Forum Essay
Proposal for Revising the Uniform Determination of Death Act
We believe that the concept of brain death, though flawed in its present application, can be preserved and promoted as a pathway to organ donation, but only after particular changes are made in the medical criteria for its diagnosis.Read “Proposal for Revising the Uniform Determination of Death Act”
Hastings Center News
Hastings Center Recognizes Anita L. Allen and Farhat Moazam with 2022 Bioethics Founders’ Award
Anita L. Allen, JD, PhD, the Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law and professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law, and Farhat Moazam, MD, PhD,...Bioethics Forum Essay
Medical Aid in Dying and Organ Donation: Canada’s Autonomy Gap
One of the most important aspects of the Canada's medical aid-in-dying process is the respect given for the patients’ wishes concerning organ donation. People dying of other causes should be shown the same respect.Read “Medical Aid in Dying and Organ Donation: Canada’s Autonomy Gap”
Hastings Center News
12 Outstanding Scholars Recognized for Work in Ethics of Disability, Transplantation, Mental Health Care, and Other Areas
The Hastings Center is pleased to announce the election of 12 new fellows. Hastings Center fellows are a group of more than 200 individuals of outstanding accomplishment whose work has...Bioethics Forum Essay
Beyond the Gift of Life: What Else to Expect from an Organ Transplant
“Between the time of my heart transplant and the moment my hair began to fall out, I arguably had suffered enough,” writes Leilani R. Graham. “Transplant brought four open-heart surgeries, ten days on ECMO, an intra-aortic balloon pump, delirium, necrotizing pneumonia, and so much muscular atrophy that I had to re-learn how to walk. [Transplant] was not the miracle I was hoping for.”Read “Beyond the Gift of Life: What Else to Expect from an Organ Transplant”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Myopic View of Xenotransplantation
. A report last week in the New York Times of a pig heart transplant performed at the University of Maryland Medical Center exemplifies a common myopic view of xenotransplantation research.