In defense of the reverence of all life: Heideggerean dissolution of the ethical challenges of organ donation after circulatory determination of death

Abstract

During the past 50 years since the first successful organ transplant, waiting lists of potential organ recipients have expanded exponentially as supply and demand have been on a collision course. The recovery of organs from patients with circulatory determination of death is one of several effective alternative approaches recommended to reduce the supply-and-demand gap. However, renewed debate ensues regarding the ethical management of the overarching risks, pressures, challenges and conflicts of interest inherent in organ retrieval after circulatory determination of death. In this article, the author claims that through the engagement of a Heideggerean existential phenomenological and hermeneutic framework what are perceived as ethical problems dissolve, including collapse of commitment to the dead donor rule. The author argues for a revisioned socially constructed conceptual and philosophical responsibility of humankind to recognize the limits of bodily finitude, to responsibly use the capacity of the transplantable organs, and to grant enhanced or renewed existence to one with diminished or life-limited capacity; thereby making the locus of ethical concern the donor-recipient as unitary ''life.'' What ethically matters in the life-cycle (life-world) of donor-recipient is the viability of the organs transplanted; thereby granting reverence to all life.

Remapping the organ donation ethical climate: a care ethics consideration

“…Care ethics were explored in investigating the lived experiences of families who were approached for organ donation (Casterle et al 2011). While the families accepted the consequence of benefiting potential donees, the requests were ill-timed as the donors were not perceived as dead by their families, or showing involuntary reflexes due to the life-like appearance fuelled by life-support machines; thus they were often unable to consent to donation towards others' benefit (234, 235;Isch 2007). Helping donors families accept the inevitability of death during this vulnerable stage and identify how donation can alleviate their emotional upheavals can facilitate their consent to the donation (234)(235)(236).…”