[Ethical aspects of organ transplantation with living related or unrelated donors]

Organ transplantation with living donor, relatively not much used in France, raises a number of ethical questions. It just transgresses the principle of primum non nocere, transgression finally accepted when considering the potential benefit for the sick recipient. It is only possible to use a living donor if a free informed consent is given. This raises some questions and supposes for the doctor in charge the obligation to follow a strict protocol. Commercialization is in the heart of the ethical discussion about living donors. This is universally condemned, but quite largely used in some underdeveloped countries and we are faced now to some professionals arguing in favour of the extension of this practice in Occident. Recently, a new category of donors has appeared, the altruists: they are ethically acceptable if strictly defined, but this category raises also some problems.