Prabhu Pradeep Kumar
Department of Anaesthetics, The Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford, UK.
J Intensive Care Soc. 2019 May;20(2):92-97. doi: 10.1177/1751143718777171. Epub 2018 May 21.
The near-universal acceptance of cadaveric organ donation has been based on the provision of explicit consent by the donor while alive, either in the form of a formal opt-in or informal discussion of wishes with next of kin. Despite the success of transplantation programmes based on explicit consent, the ongoing imbalance between demand and supply of organs for transplantation has prompted calls for more widespread introduction of laws validating presumed consent with facility for opt-out as a means of increasing organ availability. The Department of Health (UK) has recently concluded a consultation on the introduction of such a law for England. This article explores the debate on presumed consent from an ethical point of view and summarises the key arguments on both sides of the ethical divide.
尸体器官捐赠几乎得到普遍认可，其依据是捐赠者生前明确表示同意，形式可以是正式的选择加入，或者与近亲进行关于意愿的非正式讨论。尽管基于明确同意的移植项目取得了成功，但移植器官供需持续失衡，这促使人们呼吁更广泛地引入法律，认可推定同意并设置退出机制，以此作为增加器官供应的一种手段。英国卫生部最近就为英格兰引入此类法律进行了一次磋商。本文从伦理角度探讨了关于推定同意的争论，并总结了伦理分歧双方的关键论点。
