•  232
    Governance quality indicators for organ procurement policies
    with Alberto Molina-Pérez, Ivar R. Hannikainen, Janet Delgado, Benjamin Söchtig, Sabine Wöhlke, and Silke Schicktanz
    PLoS ONE 16 (6). 2021.
    Background Consent policies for post-mortem organ procurement (OP) vary throughout Europe, and yet no studies have empirically evaluated the ethical implications of contrasting consent models. To fill this gap, we introduce a novel indicator of governance quality based on the ideal of informed support, and examine national differences on this measure through a quantitative survey of OP policy informedness and preferences in seven European countries. Methods Between 2017–2019, we conducted a conv…Read more
  •  194
    La confiscación de órganos a la luz del derecho constitucional a la protección de la salud
    with Clara Moya-Guillem, Marina Morla, Íñigo de Miguel, Alberto Molina-Pérez, and Iván Ortega-Deballon
    Revista Española de Derecho Constitucional 122 183-213. 2021.
    This paper analyses the arguments for and against what we have called automatic organ procurement model in relation to the organs of the deceased. For this purpose, this work provides empirical evidence to assess the potential impact of this model on donation rates and on public opinion. Specifically, we examine first the reasons supporting this model, with special reference to utilitarian and justice arguments. On the other hand, we analyse both the approaches based on the violation of pre mort…Read more
  •  322
    Goal: To assess public knowledge and attitudes towards the family’s role in deceased organ donation in Europe. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in CINHAL, MEDLINE, PAIS Index, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Web of Science on December 15th, 2017. Eligibility criteria were socio-empirical studies conducted in Europe from 2008 to 2017 addressing either knowledge or attitudes by the public towards the consent system, including the involvement of the family in the decision-making process, for post-m…Read more
  •  46
    Addressing organ shortage: An automatic organ procurement model as a proposal
    with Marina Morla-González, Clara Moya-Guillem, Íñigo de Miguel Beriain, Alberto Molina-Pérez, and Iván Ortega-Deballon
    Clinical Ethics 16 (4): 278-290. 2021.
    Organ shortage constitutes an unsolved problem for every country that offers transplantation as a therapeutic option. Besides the largely implemented donation model and the eventually implemented market model, a theorized automatic organ procurement model has raised a rich debate in the legal, medical and bioethical community, since it could show a higher potential to solve organ shortage. In this paper, we study the main arguments for and against this model. We show how, in the light of empiric…Read more
  •  5
    Most analyses of international wildlife law focus on the specifics of implementing particular policies, while there is less engagement with the fundamental philosophies underpinning international conventions. In this article, I argue that a philosophical analysis can achieve a deeper understanding of IWL by helping to identify, assess and compare worldviews reflected in these instruments. Additionally, a philosophical analysis can make visible how international wildlife conventions shape human p…Read more
  •  388
    Since 1968, the irreversible loss of functioning of the whole brain, called brain death, is assimilated to individual’s death. The almost universal acceptance of this neurological criterion of death had decisive consequences for the contemporary medicine, such as the withdrawal of mechanical ventilation in these patients and organ retrieval for transplantation. The new criterion was successfully accepted in part because the assimilation of brain death state to death was presented by medicine --a…Read more
  •  603
    Families play an essential role in deceased organ procurement. As the person cannot directly communicate his or her wishes regarding donation, the family is often the only source of information regarding consent or refusal. We provide a systematic description and analysis of the different roles the family can play, and actions the family can take, in the organ procurement process across different jurisdictions and consent systems. First, families can inform or update healthcare professionals abo…Read more
  •  65
    Two main types of philosophical arguments have been given in support of the claim that the citizens of affluent societies have stringent moral duties to aid the global poor: “positive duty” arguments based on the notion of beneficence and “negative duty” arguments based on noninterference. Peter Singer’s positive duty argument (Singer 1972) and Thomas Pogge’s negative duty argument (Pogge 2002) are among the most prominent examples. Philosophers have made speculative claims about the relative ef…Read more