A New law on organ donation in Greece: One more effort to advance transplants

European Journal of Health Law

Volumn 7, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 427-439

  Canellopoulou Bottis, Maria ^a,b  

^a IONIAN UNIVERSITY   (Greece)

^b HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GREECE; HUMAN; INFORMED CONSENT; LIVING DONOR; MEDICAL PRACTICE; MEDICOLEGAL ASPECT; ORGAN DONOR; ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION; REVIEW;

EID: 0034486597     PISSN: 09290273     EISSN: 15718093     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/15718090020523296     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. See Varka-Adami, Transplants Law (in Greek), ed. Sakkoulas, 1993, p. 90.
2. The initial proposal for Eurotransplant was in 1967, see Persijn & Cohen, 'Self-Sufficiency in Europe: Evaluation of Needs,' in Organ and Tissue Transplantation in the European Union, Management of Difficulties and Health Risks Linked to Donors, ed. Engert, 1995, 157. Other European transplants organizations include: France-Transplant, Scandia-Transplant, UK-transplant and Organisazion National de Transplantes (Spain). In England, ULTRA (Unrelated Live Transplant Regulatory Authority) was instituted in 1989, with the Human Organ Transplants Act. In the States, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act was enacted in 1968 and the Task Force of Organ Transplantation in 1984. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) started overseeing the network in 1986.
3. Although the possibility of organ trafficking has been met with doubt, given the practical difficulties of transplants and the number of persons who should cooperate (see Kreis, 'Worldwide Organ Trafficking: Fact of Fiction?', in Organ and Tissue Transplantation in the European Union, id., pp. 67-73) there have been serious reports of illegal international organ sales. In a press report lately, Nina Scompiola, a Moldavian, 35 years old, is reported to be wanted by Interpol, for approaching poor peasants from the ex Soviet Union and 'buying' their kidney for 1 million Dr (app. $2.800). The victims of this illegal sale were transported in Constantinople, where the kidney was removed and transported again in the West, for another sale, to a needy patient, for 8,5 million Dr (app. $24.000). According to this press release, most 'donors' 'consented' to these agreements, whereas others had to be anesthetized and then transported to Constantinople. Interpol has about 100 cases of illegal organ trafficking,
4. see A 35 years old seller of human kidneys, in 'To Vima', Monday 29th May, 2000, p. 10 (A10).
5. Tissues for transplants from non-living donors include: corneas, ear ossicles, fascia lata, heart valves, ligaments, osteoarticular grafts, skin, tendons and veins, see Muylle, 'Origin and Circulation of Tissues for Grafting,' in Organ and Tissue Transplantation in the European Union, id., p. 133.
6. See Brotchi, 'Use of Fetal Tissue for Grafting,' in Organ and Tissue Transplantation in Europe, id., 147.
7. See Koutselinis, Fundamental Principles of Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Medical Liability (in Greek) ed. Parisianou, 1999, p. 249.
8. See also, on American law, Robertson, Fetal Tissue Transplants (1988) WashULQ 443.
9. See also Calabresi, Tragic Choices, 1982.
10. Also, see Kotsianos, Medical Liability, 1976, '⋯There is no legal definition of death, nor it is required that there is one. This matter is better left to the medical community⋯', p. 179.
11. There is some evidence that the simultaneous informing of both of the death of a loved one and of the possibility of a donation may be a factor against the family's consent to the donation; a least, in a research where the possibility to donate was mentioned at another session with the family, the decisions to donate were more. See Progress, American Liver Foundation, May Families Say No to Organ Donation. Also, see 1986 Congress amendments of the US National Transplant Act of 1984, 42 U.S.C. sec. 1320b-8, whereby hospitals are required to establish written protocols for the identification of potential donors that assure that families of potential organ donors are made aware of the option of organ or tissue donation and their option to decline, see also Furrow, Greaney, Johnson, Jost & Swartz, 'US Medical Law,' Kluwer Encyclopaedia of Laws, USA p. 157.
12. I do not mean that family should not be involved at all, at least at this point in time. '⋯The unfortunate reality of cadaveric organ donation is that it is the family, not the deceased patient, who comes home from the hospital, talks to their friends, neighbors and community about their experience at the hospital, and shapes public opinion about organ donation among those they know. Can the transplantation community afford to go against the wishes of a family for its own apparent gain, even if it is legally entitled to⋯?', see Klassen & Klassen, 'Who Are the Donors in Organ Donation? The Family's Perspective in Mandated Choice,' Annals of Internal Medicine, 1996, 125: 70.
13. Androulidaki-Dimitriadi, The Obligation to Inform the Patient, 1993, (in Greek) p. 251,
14. Agallopoulou, The Effects of Mental Disease of a Spouse on Marital Cohabitation (in Greek), ed. Sakkoulas, 1995, p. 55.
15. See Katz, The Silent World of Doctor and Patient, 1983,
16. also Canellopoulou-Bottis, Informed Consent Medical Liability in Greek and Common Law, (in Greek), 1999.
17. See Romeo-Casabona (1999) 'New Challenges for Organ Transplantation,' European Journal of Health Law 6, pp. 205, 208 (editorial).