title: Organs as inheritable property?
abstract: It has been argued that organs should be treated as individual tradable property like other material possessions and assets, on the basis that this would promote individual freedom and increase efficiency in addressing the shortage of organs for transplantation. If organs are to be treated as property, should they be inheritable? This paper seeks to contribute to the idea of organs as inheritable property by providing a defence of a default of the family of a dead person as inheritors of transplantable organs. In the course of discussion, various succession rules for organs and their justifications will be suggested. We then consider two objections to organs as inheritable property. Our intention here is to provoke further thought on whether ownership of one's body parts should be assimilated to property ownership.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Teck Chuan
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Voo
authors.forename: Soren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Holm
mesh_terms: D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005190:Family; D018594:Human Body; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D010067:Ownership; D040841:Resource Allocation; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000941:ethics*; D014180:Transplantation; D014918:Wills / Q000941:ethics*
keywords: Allocation of Organs/Tissues; Donation/Procurement of Organs/Tissues; Ownership; Rights; Transplantation