Ethics of Organ Donation From Condemned Prisoners

In class while discussing organ transplants the issue of whether or not people on death row were able to donate their organs arouse. The linked article is a proposal that would allow condemned prisoners to donate their organs. The proposal is for the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which is responsible for all of the transplants and logistics in the United States. With this proposal the prisoners would be allowed to donate vital organs for a reduced sentence. This brings many ethical issues to the table. The article discusses the pros and cons for allowing prisoners to donate the organs and the concerns regarding ethics. The article concludes that the proposal can not be adopted until all ethical issues are resolved.

After view many different links while searching Google, the issue of whether or not prisoners can donate is apparently a growing concern especially with such a shortage or organs.

http://www.unos.org/resources/bioethics.asp?index=6