Ethical Analysis of Organ Recovery Denials by Medical Examiners, Coroners, and Justices of the Peace

Abstract

Journal of Transplant Coordination, Vol. 9, Number 4, December 1999 criteria,133 1 45 including the use of organs from non–heart-beating donors.158-167 Despite its pivotal nature, until the early 1990s the role of medical examiners, coroners, and justices of the peace (ME/C/JPs) in the organ shortage was largely ignored, with a few notable exceptions.158-160 ME/C/JPs have the right to determine, from a medicolegal perspective, whether a deceased person can be an organ donor. In medical examiner jurisdictions, the medical examiner (who is a physician) must give permission for organ recovery to proceed. In coroner or justice of the peace jurisdictions where there is no medical examiner system, the coroner or justice of the peace must give permission for organ recovery to proceed. “In effect, the [ME/C/JP’s] decision to allow procurement surgery is a sine qua non for organ transplantation.”184 Thus, as can be seen, ME/C/JPs play an important role in the donation process, reviewing Ethical analysis of organ recovery denials by medical examiners, coroners, and justices of the peace