Living kidney donation in Europe: legal and ethical perspectives--the EUROTOLD Project.
The demand for organ replacement by transplantation continues to outstrip supply, leading to unnecessary morbidity and health care costs. "Space capacity" (i. e. cadaver organs not currently harvested for transplant) has been tackled within Western Europe in particular by many strategies--medical, social, educational and legal--but with varying degrees of success. Despite this, the use of living donors has not been fully exploided in many European countries to fill this gap. The total picture is, however, one of marked differences between countries and between centres within countries. In Turkey and Greece, living donors generally account for 60-90% of all renal donors. Countries within Scandinavia also have a high rate of living donor use, especially Norway. By contrast the percentage is far more modest, for example in Spain, Ireland, France and Germany. In the United Kingdom the rate is only 6% with a range of between 0 and 20%. Sources of living donors also show substantial variations between countries, notably the extent to which non-genetically related donors are used. A European Commission sponsored study has been established to acquire a broad understanding of the interaction of ethical values, cultural traditions and social customs on willingness to donate. It will also aim to assess the effect of national laws on professional attitudes to living donor transplantation. This is a collaborative project between the University Department of Surgery, Leicester General Hospital, the Department of Law, De Montfort University and the Department of Mathematics, Newcastle University. Transplant units throughout Europe, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, The Netherlands, Eire and Turkey are collaborating to exchange information and views on living donor transplantation.
Department of Surgery, Leicester, UK.
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D001675:Bioethics; D002102:Cadaver; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D019992:Databases as Topic; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D007668:Kidney; D019520:Living Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution; D012042:Registries; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards