Ethical And Legal Challenges In Organ Transplantation

An organ transplant is an activity where a harmed or failing organ in the human body is expelled and supplanted with another one. Organ transplantation is done to supplant the beneficiary's harmed organ with the working organ of the donor so the beneficiary's body could run regularly. Organ transplantation has been a piece of medicinal innovation for many years. The Organ transplantation is a blessing as it has helped in sparing the lives of the individuals who might have died otherwise. The Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 is the only enactment managing organ transplantation but because of the absence of usage of arrangements and obliviousness of government with respect to this area ascend to bunches of issue.

Extensively, the act accepts brain death as a type of death and made the offer of organs a culpable offense. The Tamil Nadu in India became the first state to start a cadaver transplantation program and to start a full-fledged kidney transplantation program.[1] With the acknowledgment of brain death, it got conceivable to do kidney transplantations as well as other strong organ transplants like heart, lungs, liver, and pancreas. In spite of this enactment, organ trade is consistently reported by the Indian media. On many occasions, the usage of the law has been imperfect and more frequently than once its provisions have been manhandled. The present legal framework has been a failure for the most part because of the abuse of Section 9(3) of this act, which supports the assent given by a live unrelated giver or donor for the evacuation of organs because of warmth or affection towards the beneficiary or for some other extraordinary reason.

Roman Catholics and Protestants support the donation of organs accepting that God's capacity to revive the body won't be ruined by earlier removal of its parts. Jewish law disallows getting advantage from damaging or deferring the internment of a cadaver yet this restriction can be superseded to spare a life. The Islamic Organization of Medical Sciences has many years back passed a resolution perceiving supporting brain death. The idea of 'daan' or giving is instilled in Hindu mythology and subsequently, there are no strict objections with respect to the idea of organ transplantation. The rules or ethics of organ transplantation is based on requirements like patients have to trust their doctors that the transplantation of organ will not cause any impairment to donor’s health. The donor should be well informed about the procedure and any sort of complications involved in the process of transplantation. The family and the close relatives should also give their views regarding it. No exploitation or trade should be done in the name of organ transplantation by the medical authorities.

The expanding occurrence of organ failure and the lacking inventory of organs, particularly from dead bodies, has made a wide difference between organ demand and organ supply, which has brought about an exceptionally long period of waiting to receive organs and a rising number of deaths in this period. These occasions have raised numerous moral, cultural and societal issues with respect to supply, the strategies for allocation of the organ. Kidney trade exists in both developing as well as developed nations. It has likewise resulted in the act of organ dealing by businessmen for monetary profits in certain parts of the world through misuse of poor people, to assist the affluent. The donation of the kidney by the poor people is followed by medical issues because they are unable to take follow up care because of their financial reasons. The main cause of donation is poverty and even the gain received by doing it is not long-lasting or sometimes negative. In the cases where the donor is deceased, there is no cost of organs except for some basic costs but in cases where the donor exists and donation is done by a close relative, the purpose of the donation is fully altruistic. If a person other than relative donates, the purpose can be of financial benefits. Two focal legal and social issues identified with the transplantation of organs are the adequacies in executing the present law and the monetary problems that cause individuals to give their organs. In India assent or consent is a central point when you are discussing organ transplantation. Organs must be acquired tenaciously, not out of compulsion.

The maltreatment, misrepresentation, and intimidation of paid kidney donors has been reported many times. A rise in the recurrence of medicinal difficulties, including the transmission of the hepatitis B and C viruses and HIV can also be seen. Because of the emergency and for the purpose of saving lives, the risk to which the recipients have been exposed in the process of organ transplantation should not be neglected. One of them is the expense of treatment. It is constantly feasible for the rich to take preferences for this medical advancement since they can afford it but it isn't workable for the poor to take advantage of it. The organ that can be effectively transplanted from a brain dead individual is heart, kidney, lungs, pancreas, eyes, liver, bone marrow, veins, skins, and bones. Thus, a single dead person would be able to save the lives of numerous critically ill patients.

Therefore, Organ transplantation is a remarkable hope mechanical technology that has given hope of fresh lease of life to those afflicted with diseased or defective organs is by replacing those organs with healthy ones.[2] Organ transplantation will continue to throw up challenges for medical ethics or morals and law. The solution to it lies in the fact that doctors and the government understand the principles and rules involved so that they can contribute to removing flaws in this area.

[The author, Divya Vishal is a law student at National University of Study and Research In Law, Ranchi]

1. Organ Commerce: Issues, Challenges, and Ethics in Organ Transplantation-Dr. Sunil Shroff
2. Kusum. “SUPPLY OF HUMAN ORGANS FOR TRANSPLANTATION.” Journal of the Indian Law Institute, vol. 34, no. 3, 1992, pp. 399–415. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43951451, accessed on 31st Jan. 2020.