Final Report: Transplantation and Organ Deficit: Pragmatic Solutions to Ethical Controversy (Findings and Recommendations of Core Participants)

The enduring deficit in the available supply of organs for transplant in the UK has resulted in a lively ethical debate about how such deficit might properly be addressed. This seminar series seeks to establish a pragmatic way forward towards increasing the supply of organs available for transplantation, in a way that is acceptable to society as well as likely to work in practice. Key issues to be addressed in the seminars include the role of doctors in the decision-making process; what incentives, if any, should be made available to encouraage organ donation; how to prioritise recipients; whether there should be a for-profit market for organs; and how to address issues of trust between doctors/scientists and citizens. The central aim of the series will be to explore potentially ‘new’ solutions, particularly with regard to increasing the number of live donors, as well as assessing the extent to which particular ethical and social questions have not been fully addressed in current debates. The series is particularly timely given the implementation of the Human Tissue Act 2004, and consultations which are currently taking place at EU level in relation to a proposed Directive on organ transplantation.