Presumed Consent Subcommittee of the UNOS Ethics Committee

The Presumed Consent Subcommittee of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) was formed to study the ethics of presumed consent, a policy that assumes a potential organ donor would have consented to donate his or her organs if he or she had been asked.The following viewpoint, excerpted from the subcommittee’s report, maintains that presumed consent has serious ethical problems. It recommends a policy of required response—in which all adult Americans would be required to indicate their willingness to be an organ donor—be adopted. The subcommittee argues that required response would respect an individual’s choice concerning organ donation and would increase the number of organ donors as people become more accepting of the procedure. UNOS is the national organization...