title: The use of prisoners as sources of organs--an ethically dubious practice.
abstract: The movement to try to close the ever-widening gap between demand and supply of organs has recently arrived at the prison gate. While there is enthusiasm for using executed prisoners as sources of organs, there are both practical barriers and moral concerns that make it unlikely that proposals to use prisoners will or should gain traction. Prisoners are generally not healthy enough to be a safe source of organs, execution makes the procurement of viable organs difficult, and organ donation post-execution ties the medical profession too closely to the act of execution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ethics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 19104-3308, USA. caplan@mail.med.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caplan
mesh_terms: D002102:Cadaver; D002203:Capital Punishment; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D019520:Living Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000941:ethics* / Q000592:standards; D011329:Prisoners; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000941:ethics*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000941:ethics / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States