Ownership and uses of human tissue: does the Nuffield bioethics report accord with opinion of surgical inpatients?

Abstract

Objective: To compare opinion of surgical inpatients with the conclusions of the report of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics regarding the ownership and uses of human tissue.

Design: Survey of results of questionnaires completed by patients.

Setting: Large teaching hospital.

Subjects: 384 postoperative adult surgical patients.

Results: There was strong support among patients for the use of tissues in medical education, research, and science with the exception of those tissues which may transmit disease to others. Few patients (39; 10%) believed that they retained ownership of tissue removed at surgery. Most believed that the tissue belonged to the hospital (103; 27%), to nobody (103; 27%), or to the laboratory (77; 20%). Most patients had not been given any information about the possible uses of their tissues after removal.

Conclusions: Surgical inpatients seem to endorse the conclusions of the Nuffield report regarding the ownership and uses of human tissue. The recommendations regarding patient information and consent procedures should be implemented at the earliest opportunity.