Human organ transplantation--multicultural ethical perspectives

Just as the issues of the beginning and the end of life are interlinked with a civilisation's worldview and its approach to human dignity, so too is the question of the continuation of life, through organ transplantation. The purpose of the paper is to compare European, African and Islamic approaches to this question. Indeed, Professor Amnon Carmii (First Annual Carmen Nathan Memorial Lecture, Mmabatho, 1991) has highlighted the need for multicultural analysis in medico-legal discourse. The European approach will be based on the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, more specifically Articles 19-22, bearing in mind the 1997 Explanatory Report to the Convention which declares that the aim of the Convention is to protect human rights and dignity and that all its articles must be interpreted in this light (Article 2.22). In respect of the Islamic perspective, the paper will show that, based on the primary sources of the Shari'ah, there are strong arguments both for and against organ transplantation. Amongst the more specific ethical questions which will be discussed from a comparative perspective are the respective rights of the donor and recipient. In this regard, possible violations of human dignity and the integrity of the human being will be discussed. The related questions of consent and the determination of death will also be discussed. One of the conclusions reached in the paper will be that, in all societies, the human dignity, the integrity and the primacy of the human being remains the paramount consideration.