Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 8, 2026

Establishment and Genetic Manipulation of Murine Hepatocyte Organoids
Published on: February 12, 2022
Organs as inheritable property?
1Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Abstract:
It has been argued that organs should be treated as individual tradable property like other material possessions and assets, on the basis that this would promote individual freedom and increase efficiency in addressing the shortage of organs for transplantation. If organs are to be treated as property, should they be inheritable? This paper seeks to contribute to the idea of organs as inheritable property by providing a defence of a default of the family of a dead person as inheritors of transplantable organs. In the course of discussion, various succession rules for organs and their justifications will be suggested. We then consider two objections to organs as inheritable property. Our intention here is to provoke further thought on whether ownership of one's body parts should be assimilated to property ownership.
Related Concept Videos
Non-nuclear Inheritance
Non-nuclear Inheritance
Inheritance
Each gene exists in pairs, and the combination of these genes from both parents forms an individual's genotype. This genotype is a blueprint of potential traits. Examples of genotype traits...
Levels of Organization
Molecules Are Composed of Atoms, and Biomolecules Are Assembled from Molecules:
The most basic levels include atoms, molecules, and biomolecules. Atoms, the smallest unit of ordinary matter, are composed of a nucleus and electrons. Molecules...
Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance
Structural Organization of the Human Body: An Overview
To study the chemical level of organization, scientists consider the simplest building blocks of matter: subatomic particles, atoms, and molecules. All matter in the universe is composed of one or more unique pure substances called elements, familiar examples of...

