Informing patients about organ donation fulfills the physician's ethical duties of beneficence, respect for autonomy, and justice. Moreover, the social contract between doctors and the public compels physicians to act in a way that promotes all persons' chances for a healthy life.
We must try to understand why there is such certainty about poor prognosis in severe brain-injury cases, when in fact many patients recover, albeit to a level of function most of us would not desire.
The history of the AMA's policy on anencephalic newborns as organ donors is a living example of what medical science can do sometimes conflicts with society's support or nonsupport of those possibilities.
Courts need to consider the potential risks and benefits to a minor who donates a kidney to a sibling, the probability of a successful outcome, and possible alternatives.
An ethical case explores the many ethical and legal issues that impede the process of organ donation when the family objects to the process, even in light of a signed donor card.
A newspaper reporter who was a live organ donor for his childhood friend relates the impact first-hand reporting of the experience had on his life as well as the public.