Increasing the supply of organs for transplantation: the role of ethics and law.

In the face of constantly escalating shortages of organs and tissues, all options for increasing the supply of transplantable body parts must be explored. To make the current system more effective, donor cards and required request laws should be respected and enforced. Alternatives to the current system, such as incentives for donation and presumed consent laws, must also be carefully considered. Health care professionals, ethicists, and attorneys need to work together to address the issues posed by those medical advances--including the use of living partial organ donors and non-heartbeating cadaveric donors--that promise to increase the supply of transplantable organs and tissues necessary to save lives.