Organ transplantation: bridging the technology-ethics gap.

ABSTRACT

Ever since the first organ transplant was successfully performed in the 1950s, controversies surrounding the scope and consequences of this medical intervention have attracted more attention than its potential human benefit. While the medical world finds in it the potential to provide effective treatment for end state organ failure, the various steps involved in the treatment? selection of donor and recipient, the process and stages of decision making, the diverse cultural and religious practices and beliefs – raise complex ethical challenges. Religious institutions often view the very idea of organ transplantation skeptically. Yet it has evolved as a widely accepted medical practice and continues to give hope to millions of patients, across the world, who suffer from potentially life-threatening ailments.