[Basic ethical aspects of living organ donation]

Abstract

A characteristic feature of transplanting organs from living donors is that not only patients in need for treatment but also healthy individuals are submitted to medical interventions. Ethical considerations in this field have to deal with the question of property attributes of the human body and conflicts with traditional medical principles. Altruistic organ donation, appreciated by Christianity as a sign of charity, is indeed contradictory to the classic maxim of medical ethics "primum nihil nocere, " meaning "first of all, do not harm." The autonomous choice of a potential donor has to be balanced thoroughly against his personal physical and psychological risks. Apart from organ donation with altruistic motives, commercial incentives or payment for organ donation, which are increasingly under discussion in many nations, need profound ethical reflection. Organ selling does not lead to long-term economic benefit for individual donors in developing countries and is associated with a decline in health. A market system of organ sales would foster exploitation of the poor, and it is substantially doubtful whether autonomy and self determination are valid under circumstances of poverty and coercion. Commodification of the human body risks viewing persons as marketable objects. The human body,however, is an integral element of an individual's personality and not a resource to be removed. It is therefore fundamental that the social good of altruism is preserved as the major principle in organ donation.