ABSTRACT
Living organ donors present a problem for the ‘do no harm’ imperative in medical ethics, as they are said to be harmed by the loss of the relevant organ. This, of course, only affects irreplaceable organs. The moral issues concerning live donation precede organ transplantation and go back to more ancient discussions on whether persons have a right to mutilate their own bodies. Live organ donation has its origins in the 1950s and was usually performed upon identical twins. A major solution to ethical problems posed by animal-to -human and live inter-human donations is to be found in a programme for the development of artificial organs. The artificial heart is at present impracticable and an artificial liver is beyond human capacity. There are, however, several problems with artificial hearts which ethicists ought to address. It is frequently objected that because the costs are enormous, resources should be redirected to where they will maximize benefit.
