ABSTRACT
The first successful solid organ transplant was carried out at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1954. The method for assuring that organ procurement was sensitive and respectful of the autonomous choices of individuals was the donor card. During the 1980s presumed consent enjoyed something of a revival among those interested in the ethics and politics of organ procurement. The success of kidney transplantation has been paralleled in many other areas of organ transplantation. Many commentators believe that the creation of a market in organs would provide the requisite incentives for assuring that an adequate supply of organs would be available for transplantation. Autonomy and voluntarism became the ethical linchpins of organ procurement and have remained so. New immunosuppressive agents permitted the transplantation of solid organs between non-biologically related donors and recipients. A number of proposals were advanced concerning the nature of public policies that ought to govern the procurement of organs from cadaver sources.
