Students of the Polish catholic theological seminars and the issue of organ transplantation

Abstract

Background: The aim of the paper was the analysis of the stance and knowledge of the religious seminars alumni, about the legal foundations of transplantology.

Material/methods: The study group were 204 alumni of the five senior religious seminars in Poland. By the use of an anonymous questionnaire, the clerics were interviewed. The questionnaire consisted of thirteen questions concerning the issue of organ transplants in Poland.

Results: It can be concluded that the attitude of clerics towards the organ transplantation is no different in principle from the attitude of the general public. Noteworthy is the fact that clerics often declared their consent to be donors of organs for transplantation. Attitudes of the clerics are also characterized by the fact that they did not object to procurement of organs of people close to them after their death. However, it can be concluded, that the attitude of surveyed clerics reflects a negative trend associated with a greater focus on receiving an organ in time of danger (95%), than the willingness to donating their organs after death (80%).

Conclusions: The level of knowledge of the legal conditions of transplantation among the students of catholic seminars is increasing. Clerics are aware of the role of future educators, despite the fact that in majority of religious seminars there was no consent of the Deans to perform such survey.