Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Section I Information problems
- Section II End of life care
- Section III Pregnant women and children
- Section IV Genetics and biotechnology
- Introduction
- 20 Organ transplantation
- 21 Regenerative medicine
- 22 Genetic testing and screening
- 23 Bio-banking
- 24 Behavioral genetics
- Section V Research ethics
- Section VI Health systems and institutions
- Section VII Using clinical ethics to make an impact in healthcare
- Section VIII Global health ethics
- Section IX Religious and cultural perspectives in bioethics
- Section X Specialty bioethics
- Index
- References
20 - Organ transplantation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Section I Information problems
- Section II End of life care
- Section III Pregnant women and children
- Section IV Genetics and biotechnology
- Introduction
- 20 Organ transplantation
- 21 Regenerative medicine
- 22 Genetic testing and screening
- 23 Bio-banking
- 24 Behavioral genetics
- Section V Research ethics
- Section VI Health systems and institutions
- Section VII Using clinical ethics to make an impact in healthcare
- Section VIII Global health ethics
- Section IX Religious and cultural perspectives in bioethics
- Section X Specialty bioethics
- Index
- References
Summary
A 53-year-old single mother offers to donate a kidney to a work colleague whom she knows distantly. Although the recovery time needed away from work after donation will strain her modest income, the woman tells the transplant team that she understands this and is willing to go ahead. She explains that her motivation to donate is purely to help another human being.
A man involved in a serious road traffic accident has suffered severe injuries and has been placed on life support while investigations are completed. The results indicate he will not survive. His relatives are not present at the hospital. The junior physician treating the patient considers withdrawing supportive treatment. He wonders whether the patient would be a candidate for non-heart-beating donation after cardiac death is pronounced.
What is organ transplantation?
Organ transplantation is both a life-extending and a life-saving medical procedure in which a whole or partial organ (or cells in cell therapy) from a deceased or living person is transplanted into another individual, replacing the recipient's non-functioning organ with the donor's functioning organ. Advances in the science of organ transplantation since the 1980s have significantly broadened the range of transplantable organs and improved transplant outcomes. Transplant centers in different parts of the world successfully transplant kidneys, livers, lungs, hearts, pancreases, and intestinal organs, and the procedure is considered the preferred treatment for several indications.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics , pp. 145 - 152Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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