Directed Organ Donation

Can One Will His Organs or Give a Directed Organ Donation Instruction?

 

The Transplantation of Human Organ Act (THOA )1994 is ambiguous on this issue except to put a ban of trade of human organs and coercion . But the question is can a person say in his advance declaration or in its absence the legal heir put a condition that one or more organs are to be given to a particular person or exclude some category of persons from benefiting from this transplantation? There are a variety of opinions and people argue that once you give up voluntarily then the organs are state property by virtue of it being the property of organ sharing organization or National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) in India becomes the deciding authority to decide who should get the organs based on four guiding principles.

 

A person can give a directed organ donation to a close relative while he is alive and it is permitted then it should also apply to a person who is brain dead and since he cannot make a decision or convey it hence his legal heirs have the right to decide. A few cases of one of the kidney donation, a portion of liver or blood/plasma/platelets donation are in public domain.

A person can make a will of his self acquired property then it applies to reasoning that he can decide as to whom to give or not to give his organs and his wish should be honored. Of course in this case it will be in the form of advance declaration. Moreover as long as he is alive it is his organs and after that whether he is brain dead or dead the legal heirs are the custodian of the body and hence they have a right to decide whether there is any directed organ donation or not and state should not have any say in this matter and should honor their wishes.

 

USA in 2009 has adopted this practice of directed organ donation and UK in 2010. But in India the issue is not very clear except in the state of Gujarat and Tamilnadu where directed organ donation is permitted.

 

What is required, therefore, is a provision in the THO Act permitting this directed organ donation, of course with some checks and conditions so that trade as well as profiting from this organ donation is avoided.