ABSTRACT
A shortage of donor organs limits most transplant programmes: some patients die of otherwise untreatable end-organ failure, others, in chronic renal failure, are obliged to continue with costly and distressing dialysis procedures. The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the American Medical Association stated in 1995 that it is ethically permissible for an anencephalic neonate to be an organ donor, although still legally alive by virtue of the current definition of death. If changes in public thinking and the law were to make possible the use of organs from patients in permanent vegetative state, it would be necessary, as in the case of abortion, to include a conscience clause allowing doctors and nurses the right to refuse to take part in the procedure. For religious, cultural, and other traditional reasons, it is likely that the proposal would be rejected, nevertheless, the arguments in favour are sufficiently compelling to justify serious debate.
