The Ethics of Organ Donation: First, Do No Harm?

Abstract

The dead donor rule (DDR) stipulates that donors must be dead before life-sustaining organs are removed. Its normative basis is to protect organ donors from suffering unacceptable harm. The central ethical consideration should not be whether or not a donor is dead: it should be whether the harm of vital-organ retrieval is justified. In this thesis, I argue that under certain circumstances living donors should be granted an exemption from the DDR on ethical grounds, specifically when the retrieval of vital organs would do no wrongful harm.