The ethics of transplantation and legal issues

Organ donation and transplantation present many challenges to the medical community and society as a whole that require legal and ethical frameworks. This article sets out the key principles of modern bioethics and shows how these can be used to understand a number of areas of controversy in organ donation and transplantation practice. In many cases there is no single answer to a problem and the concept is introduced that ethics and implementation of ethical principles to policy is often governed by societal values or represents a best compromise. Organ donation and transplantation will continue to throw up challenging questions for law and medical ethics and it is key that doctors understand the language and principles involved so that they can contribute to the debate.