Organ Donation: Foundational Ethical Approaches

EthicsLab

The big picture is that 115,000 men, women and children await organ transplants in the United States. Even the largest football stadium in the US could not fit the number of patients on the national transplant waiting list. In 2016, 33,600 transplants brought new life to patients and their families. Since 1988, 683,000 transplants have taken place in this country. In this episode, our lead contributor Becket Gremmels, speaks to a transplant surgeon, an ICU doctor and a health care ethicist about some of the foundational ethical approaches that honor organ donors, the patients who receive those organs, and the health care professionals who care for both. Our guests in this episode include: Dr. Carol Bayley, past Vice President for Ethics and Justice Education at Dignity Health, San Francisco Dr. Anji Wall, Abdominal Transplant Surgeon at Baylor Medical Center, Dallas Dr. Wes Ely, Intensivist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Nashville VA Hospital, Nashville