Bioethics in Faith and Practice, Volume 3, Number 1

18 Marquardt ⦁ Consent for Organ Donation non-donors, and against the homeless and anyone else unlikely to be properly informed about the new system. Autonomy considerations deal presumed consent a principlist deathblow. Because presumed consent treats donors as a means and not an end only, and because a presumed consent system cannot possibly ensure informed, voluntary consent, it cannot be ethically allowable. Due to the lack of conclusive evidence that presumed consent would even have a significant positive impact on donor rates, and more importantly due to the negative ethical implications for the medical field, one must conclude that an opt out organ donor system would be ill-advised and corrosive to biomedical ethical standards. 1 "History." Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Accessed March 24, 2017. https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/learn/about-transplantation/history/. 2 Wilkinson, T. Martin. Ethics and the Acquisition of Organs . Oxford University Press, 2011. 1. 3 "Data." Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Accessed March 24, 2017. https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Sheehy, Ellen, Suzanne L. Conrad, Lori E. Brigham, Richard Luskin, Phyllis Weber, Mark Eakin, Lawrence Schkade, and Lawrence Hunsicker. "Estimating the number of potential organ donors in the United States." New England Journal of Medicine 349, no. 7 (2003): 671. 7 "Organ Donation Statistics." Organdonor.gov. 2017. Accessed March 24, 2017. https://www.organdonor.gov/statistics-stories/statistics.html#registration. 8 Wilkinson, T. Martin. Ethics and the Acquisition of Organs . Oxford University Press, 2011. 6-7. 9 Crowe, Sam, PhD, and Eric Cohen, PhD. "PCBE: Organ Donation Policy." PCBE: Organ Donation Policy. 2006. Accessed March 23, 2017. https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/pcbe/background/crowepaper.html. 10 Arras, John. "Theory and Bioethics." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. May 18, 2010. Accessed March 24, 2017. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/theory-bioethics/. 11 Ibid 12 Chon, W. J., M. A. Josephson, E. J. Gordon, Y. T. Becker, P. Witkowski, D. J. Arwindekar, A. Naik, J. R. Thistlethwaite, C. Liao, and L. F. Ross. "When the living and the deceased cannot agree on organ donation: a survey of US organ procurement organizations (OPOs)." American Journal of Transplantation 14, no. 1 (2014): 173. 13 The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. "Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act." In Annual Conference Meeting In Its One-Hundred-and-Fifteenth Year Hilton Head, South Carolina . Proceedings. August 26, 2009. Accessed March 23, 2017. 29. http://www.uniformlaws.org/shared/docs/anatomical_gift/uaga_final_aug09.pdf. 14 Ibid. 15 "Anatomical Gift Act (2006)." Uniform Law Commission: The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Accessed March 23, 2017. http://www.uniformlaws.org/Act.aspx?title=Anatomical Gift Act %282006%29.