人体器官捐献中的死亡标准问题

The question of death criteria in human organ donation

死亡后捐献是开展公民逝世后器官捐献工作最重要的伦理原则。新修订的《人体器官捐献和移植条例》未定义死亡,且回避了“是否承认脑死亡”这一关键性问题,器官捐献工作中可能存在一定的法律风险或损害捐献者权益的情况。死亡是人类生命过程最终无法避免的事实,任何时代都需要而且只能通过一些具体的标准来判定死亡。死亡标准的建立基础是人们所持有的死亡观,并受到生产力发展水平和其他社会因素制约。中西方死亡判定标准的认定上存在明显差异。为了规范器官捐献和移植工作,推进器官捐献高质量发展,必须坚持动机纯正原则,以知情同意为前提,尊重捐献者及其近亲属的死亡标准自主选择权,严格遵循死亡判定程序和操作规范,确保死亡认定的科学性、准确性和公正性。

Donation after death is the most important ethical principle to carry out organ donation after citizens’death.The newly-revised Regulations on Human Organ Donation and Transplantation does not define death,and avoids the key question of“whether to recognize brain death”.Certain legal risks or damages to the rights and interests of donors may exist in organ donation.Death is an inevitable part of human life.It is necessary to establish specific criteria,which is also the only approach,to define death in any era.Death criteria are established based on the view of death,and restricted by the development level of productive forces and other social factors.The determination of death criteria hugely varies between China and the West.To standardize organ donation and transplantation and promote high-quality development of organ donation,medical staff must adhere to the principle of pure motivation,take informed consents as the premise,respect the donors'and their close relatives'rights to choose their own death criteria,strictly follow the death judgment procedures and operating norms,and ensure the scientificity,accuracy and fairness of death determination.