Opt-Out to the Rescue: Organ donation and samaritan duties

TY - JOUR

T1 - Opt-Out to the Rescue:

T2 - Organ donation and samaritan duties

AU - Midtgaard, Søren Flinch

AU - Albertsen, Andreas

PY - 2021/7

Y1 - 2021/7

N2 - Deceased organ donation is widely considered as a case of easy rescue―that is, a case in which A may bestow considerable benefits on B while incurring negligent costs herself. Yet, the policy implications of this observation remain unclear. Drawing on Christopher H. Wellman’s samaritan account of political obligations, the paper develops a case for a so-called opt-out system, i.e., a scheme in which people are defaulted into being donors. The proposal’s key idea is that we may arrange people’s options in specific ways for the sake of others.

AB - Deceased organ donation is widely considered as a case of easy rescue―that is, a case in which A may bestow considerable benefits on B while incurring negligent costs herself. Yet, the policy implications of this observation remain unclear. Drawing on Christopher H. Wellman’s samaritan account of political obligations, the paper develops a case for a so-called opt-out system, i.e., a scheme in which people are defaulted into being donors. The proposal’s key idea is that we may arrange people’s options in specific ways for the sake of others.

KW - opt-out

KW - organ donation

KW - samaritatianism

KW - duty to donate

KW - Wellman

KW - Nudging

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119065887&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/phe/phab010

DO - 10.1093/phe/phab010

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1754-9973

VL - 14

SP - 191

EP - 201

JO - Public Health Ethics

JF - Public Health Ethics

IS - 2

ER -