Do we need living unrelated organ donation in Brazil?

Abstract 

The remarkable success achieved by organ transplantation has also engendered the major problem of organ shortage. As a consequence, the use of living unrelated donors (LURD) has been proposed as an ethically justifiable alternative for developed nations to minimize their waiting lists for organ transplantation (OTx). This change in attitude has caused an ethical dilemma for developing countries like Brazil, which is struggling to increase the cadaver donor pool. Due to a huge socioeconomic gap of values and needs among nations, the incentive to use LURD in developed countries may not only produce a disincentive to cadaver organ donation but also stimulate organ trade in developing countries. In this paper we aimed to show that in Brazil, we do not need to use LURD because we have not optimized our cadaver donor pool. The exploitation of LURD might be a good option for developed countries, but it is not useful for developing countries. The Transplantation Society urgently needs to solve and clarify this problem by establishing basic ethical and justice principles that can serve as a guide for every country, throughout the entire process required, to achieve an adequate pool of cadaver donors.