Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014
This is a book about policy, aimed at professionals, academics and strategists. It aspires to map out a broad, transferable contemporary ‘model’ framework to govern human organ and tissue donation for transplantation and research. It is my contention that existing systems, whilst well-meaning and considered, often serve – on account of deficiencies and anomalies – to defeat the very objectives which they have set out to achieve; to the detriment of patients, subjects and society in general. Deconstruction is consequently crucial, especially in the light of the controversies surrounding such activities and the ever-increasing challenges presented by them. Of course, differences of view are inevitable in spheres touching so closely upon intimate areas of human activity, but this is a field riven not only by divergence of perspective and emphasis, but also by misconception. These are areas of policy which have invariably developed in pragmatic, customary fashion, being science-, technology- and practice (and hence largely demand-) driven, partly by dint of necessity, but which require in the modern age a sure footing which can survive critical scrutiny. To be sure, legal and ethical principles will inevitably operate in a ‘fuzzy’ way in the real world, but there is nonetheless a need for clear concepts to cut through the increasing ‘noise’. The challenges here are great, but so are the prizes. The need for human organs and tissues is one of the hallmarks of contemporary society and the gateway to interventions of incalculable benefit to mankind, either as forms of therapy or as precursors to the development of preventive, therapeutic and diagnostic strategies.
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