Donation groups say they walk a fine line, but critics see potential for abuses

From the Washington Post, a feature about the tensions that surround practices for obtaining organs for transplant. At the center of the controversy is the legal case surrounding the death in San Luis Obispo, CA, of Ruben Navarro, a man with a chronic degenerative disease. After nurses raised complaints, prosecutors charged a transplant surgeon with trying to hasten Navarro’s death in order to harvest his organs.

For some doctors, nurses and medical ethicists, the case represents their worst fear. Said one critical care specialist:

“If you promote organ donation too much, people lose sight that it’s a dying patient there. It’s not just a source of organs. It’s a person.”

Registration required.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 10:05 am and is filed under ethics, law, medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post