Attitudes of Members of the Baptist Church Toward Organ Transplantation

IntroductionThe Baptist Church in Poland has not presented its official stance on organ, tissue, or cell transplantation so far. The aim of the work was to find out Baptists' knowledge and opinions concerning organ transplantation.MethodsThe respondents were 296 members of the Baptist Church. The research tool used in the study was an original survey questionnaire.ResultsThe vast majority of Baptists (72%) would agree to have organs removed from a deceased family member. The fact of knowing someone who has had an organ transplanted was a factor promoting such a decision. Three fourths of the respondents would agree on removal of their organs for transplantation after death, but only 47% have talked about that with their families. Of the respondents, 37% think that the transplant recipient should have the opportunity to meet the family of the donor. The respondents who did not agree to have organs removed from a deceased person most often mentioned such reasons as aversion to violating bodily integrity of the deceased person (55%), religious beliefs (54%), failure to agree with the death of the deceased person (46%), not knowing the deceased person's will (34%), and lack of trust in health service (32%).ConclusionPropagation of knowledge of transplantation is the only effective method of increasing the number of organ transplantations, because many ethical, social, and religious barriers in the society result from insufficient education.