A great deal has been written about the ethics of organ transplantation. Much of it has (appropriately) concerned issues of policy—for example, how best to allocate scarce organs, avoid conflicts of interest, and increase the pool of potential donors. Although these discussions are important, they often fail to provide much context for applying relevant ethical precepts to the day-to-day activities of those directly involved in organ procurement. The purpose of this paper is to provide such a context by reviewing several key conceptual issues, drawing attention to various ethical and procedural distinctions, and offering some practical recommendations for addressing these issues with physicians and other healthcare providers.
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