#136 – Organs from the dead

With Dr Trevor Stammers

Rates for deceased donations greatly vary across the world but organ transplantation heavily depends on them and virtually exclusively so for vital organs such as the heart.
But this raises many ethical questions about the nature of death. Can the dead be harmed? Who should give consent for donation when the wishes of the deceased are unclear? Should the 'dead donor rule' be abandoned as some suggest?
These and other questions will be explored from a Christian perspective.

Dr Trevor Stammers
Family Physician, Academic & Author | + posts

Trevor Stammers was Associate Professor of Medical Ethics at St Mary's University, Twickenham until retirement in 2021. He is the author of The Ethics of Global Organ Acquisition: Moral arguments about transplantation, published by Bloomsbury in 2023. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ethics-of-global-organ-acquisition-9781350227200/