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ORGAN PROCUREMENT: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS IN RELATION TO EMANUEL AND EMANUEL’S FOUR MODELS

Gogineni, Sarag
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1652113520724472

Abstract Details

2022, BS, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Biological Sciences.
Organ donation is the process of removal of an organ from a donor for the reuse in a recipient whose organ is no longer functional. Since the start of organ procurement and donation in 1954, many ethical issues have emerged. A major issue of organ procurement centers around the respect for autonomy of the donor and their family. The United States is suffering from an organ shortage leading to a prioritization of procuring organs over respect for autonomy. In cases of brain death – impossibility of the recovery of all brain stem functions – organs remain viable for donation, leading to the potentiality of the complicated organ donation process. Before consent for organ donation can be obtained, a difficult conversation with the patient’s family must be had regarding the circumstances of the patient. The family’s decision-making is likely constrained by emotion. How can the family make an autonomous decision when they are subject to internal constraints affecting their decision-making ability? An analysis of this question started with a description of the process of organ procurement, the history of organ procurement and the ethical issues that have emerged. The first chapter also analyzed the different definitions of death and their implications on organ donation. The first chapter found organ procurement to be a complex process that varies according to the type of death occurring. Brain death was found to be the most preferable for organ donation as organ viability is highest. The thesis moved on to a discussion of autonomy, from Kant’s moral autonomy to Raz’s personal autonomy to Beauchamp and Childress’s biomedical autonomy – the current standard of autonomy in bioethics. Beauchamp and Childress focus on what makes an action autonomous. They define acting autonomously as acting with intentionality, understanding and noncontrol. In 1992, Emanuel and Emanuel proposed four models of physician-patient relationships, highlighting their ideal model. The three conditions of biomedical autonomy were compared to the four models in the goal of finding a model that could sufficiently boost the autonomy of the family so that they can make an autonomous decision. The analysis found that each model targets a different condition of biomedical autonomy. Lastly, the difficult conversation of organ procurement was applied to the four models and biomedical autonomy. While Emanuel and Emanuel proposed their models for physician-patient relationships to benefit the patient, this application focused on physician-family relationships to benefit an anonymous third party, i.e., potential organ recipient. In attempting to find a model that could best elevate the family’s autonomy, this thesis found that there is no one model that best applies to the organ procurement conversation. Rather, in conclusion, the best model is dependent on whom the physician is conversing with, and which aspect of autonomy needs to be supported. This finding is a deviation from Emanuel and Emanuel’s explicit statement that the fourth model is the most ideal.
Deborah Barnbaum, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Susan Roxburgh, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Frank Ryan, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Clare Stacey, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
86 p.
Ethics; Medical Ethics; Philosophy
Organ procurement, organ donation, organ harvesting, Emanuel and Emanuel, Beauchamp and Childress

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Gogineni, S. (2022). ORGAN PROCUREMENT: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS IN RELATION TO EMANUEL AND EMANUEL’S FOUR MODELS [Undergraduate thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1652113520724472

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Gogineni, Sarag. ORGAN PROCUREMENT: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS IN RELATION TO EMANUEL AND EMANUEL’S FOUR MODELS. 2022. Kent State University, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1652113520724472.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Gogineni, Sarag. "ORGAN PROCUREMENT: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS IN RELATION TO EMANUEL AND EMANUEL’S FOUR MODELS." Undergraduate thesis, Kent State University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1652113520724472

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University Honors College and OhioLINK.