Abstract

KIE: Caplan disagrees with the conclusions reached by Alfred M. and Blair L. Sadler in a companion article, that the current American system of voluntary organ donation is working. Caplan maintains that the unmet increase in demand for cadaver organs as a result of advances in transplantation technology necessitates a change in public policy. After rejecting the market approach to organ procurement, he relates the experience with "presumed consent" in France, where physicians are legally permitted to remove organs without consent but rarely act without the authority of family members. Caplan recommends a policy of "required request" for the United States, in which health personnel would be required by law to approach the relatives of potential donors for consent.