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Breaking down organ donation borders: Revisiting "opt out" residency requirements in the UK.
- Source :
-
Clinical Ethics . Sep2024, Vol. 19 Issue 3, p237-242. 6p. - Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- All four UK nations have, in recent years, introduced "opt out" organ donation systems. Whilst these systems are largely similar, they operate independently. A key feature of each policy is a residency requirement, stipulating that opt out may only apply where the deceased had been ordinarily resident in that nation for at least 12 months. A resident of Scotland who dies in England, for example, would not fall under opt out. Public awareness is the underlying reasoning for such stipulations. A residency requirement was appropriate when Wales was the only UK nation with an opt out system, but, I suggest, the continued imposition of intra-UK borders on organ donation is unjustified now that all four nations operate the same policy. Further, it has the potential to limit organ donation. There is a need for all four systems to be amended to allow for UK-wide applicability, such that providing the deceased was ordinarily resident in the UK, they can fall under opt out in any of the four nations. I argue that such an amendment is ethically justified – continuing to satisfy the public awareness criterion – and practically straightforward. In doing so, I emphasise that my proposed amendment should extend only to the four UK nations, stopping short of the Crown Dependencies even though they also operate opt out systems for organ donation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14777509
- Volume :
- 19
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Clinical Ethics
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 179435178
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/14777509241231501