ABSTRACT Principles of justice and equality demand that HIV seropositive individuals and those with AIDS should not be discriminated against in any area of social provision. If social policy on AIDS is constructed in terms of reciprocal obligations, that is if obligations to the HIV seropositive individual and obligations of the HIV seropositive individual are given equal weight, the civil rights of HIV seropositive individuals may be secured and this may create a climate in which HIV seropositive individuals will more (...) readily notify partners, and others at risk of infection, of their HIV status. It is conceivable that such a climate could facilitate greater control of the spread of HIV/aids. (shrink)

Recent psychological research concerning determinantsof and barriers to organ donation is reviewed with theintention of ascertaining acceptable and potentiallyeffective ways of improving organ retrieval. On thebasis of this review, five recommendations are made.(1) Individuals' donation wishes, where explicit,should be decisive. (2) Next of kin should witnessdonor decisions. (3) Mandated choice should replacevoluntary `opting-in'. (4) Initial donation choicesshould be repeatedly re-evaluated. (5) Those involvedin organ procurement should distance themselves frommodel of bodies as machines or gardens and embracemodels where bodies are viewed (...) as sacred extensions ofself. In combination, these recommendations are arguedto be preferable in several ways to opt-out/presumedconsent procurement options. (shrink)

Who should decide about organ donation after death, the individual or the family? This paper examines why this practical question can be difficult to resolve. A comparison is made between standard decision‐making in medicine and decision‐making about organ donation. The questions are raised of the connection of the dead body to the person, and of who properly has autonomous control over the dead body. To understand the issues, an exploration of autonomy is needed, but at the same time this shows (...) that a resolution depends on addressing complex spiritual and cultural issues, and questions about the autonomy of the individual versus that of the group. (shrink)

Some lawyers, even some academic lawyers, have developed the happy knack of being in the right place at the right time, without being ambulance chasers. Thus David Price, with not only a timely but a thoughtful and thought provoking examination of organ transplantation and associated questions of commerce and commodity in body parts, seems almost prescient. Did he know, when he set out to compose what has emerged as his elegant and authoritative account and critique, that bodies and body parts (...) were about to become one of the most controversial intellectual properties for years? Price’s corpus is in three parts; predictably cadaveric organ transplantation and living donors comprise the most substantial elements of his exegesis and critique. While his review largely antedates cell nucleus substitution …. (shrink)

In most Western European countries and North America, strategies to contain the spread of AIDS have emphasized civil liberties. This may be due more to the epidemiology of the disease than to moral progress.