Research On Juristic Problems Of Organ Transplants

As one of the leading achievements in modern biomedicine field, transplant operation has a great development in these years. Today, multifarious transplant operations such as dermatoplasty, renal transplantation, liver graft (LG), heart transplantation, and so on, are effectively operated by doctors. So far, there are more than ten thousand transplant operations done all over the world, which have a significant contribution for saving the lives of persons being ill viscera. At present, there have made a mighty advance of transplant operation in our country, which have near thousands cases every year. Except the general renal transplantation, our doctors have developed the transplants of heart,liver,lung, which acquire good clinical effects and experiences. With the development of organ transplants, the correlative law should be established and carried out, with whether the apparatus could be exchanged or not, how to confirm the standard of death, what the basic principle and system of organ transplants are and responsibility for illegal organ transplants.This paper investigates the legal nature and the rights- ownership of all kinds of human organs for transplantation by the analysis of the legal nature of organ transplants using the methods of comparison, citation and illustration. The author put forward a legislative proposal of organ transplant illustration by analyzing Human Organ Transplants Regulation effected in July 1st 2006, combined with foreign legislation on organ transplants.The article has three parts.The first part is history of organ transplants. In 1954, Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray, Boston's medical scientist in USA, successfully completed the first case of human organ transplants-- a kidney transplantation operation, as the beginning of human organ transplants. And then organ transplant technology has made rapid development with the development of science and technology. We start organ transplants later with rapid developing, carried out in many parts of our country. All kinds of organ transplants in the word could be performed in our country with a higher maximum survival ratio after operation. But it is restricted by lack of people who supply the transplanted organ that the technology of organ transplants does good to people extensively, as a bottleneck. It is a worldwide problem, especially in China. In the twentieth century, parochial rule of law on organ transplants established in partial areas. It is until July 1st 2006 that the united law-Human Organ Transplants Regulation has been put in force in our country. The transplantation-associated law is not integral although the Regulation has been put into practice with some failing. We hope that the draft regulations could solve questions in organ transplants.In the second one we analyze the legal relation of organ transplants. In the law, the main objects include donor, receipt, medical institution and communication institution for organ transplants, which the donor are only object damaged. Many doctors just considered that how to extend the sources of the organ for saving serious patient, and sometimes neglect the legal protection for the donor. We must define the legal concept and relation involving organ transplants before improving the system of legislation.For example, what are legal status of the recipient and the donor in organ transplants? What is the legal relationship between them? What is the characteristic of the relationship as distinguished from others? We could understand legislative purpose and establish legislative content of organ transplants and protect legitimate interests of each side concerned in organ transplants only through making the content and the relationship clear. And so the work of organ transplants could develop more favorably.The third part of paper is legislative analysis and suggestion on organ transplants in our country. In July 1st 2006, the Regulation was put into practice which illumined our organ transplants work to be carried on. It protected interests of the donor in organ transplants, made hard and fast rules to limit hospital to do the operation in order to ensure the safety between the recipient and the donor in organ transplants. Although there much loopholes in protection by law. The author makes some legislative suggestion by studying the foreign legislation on organ transplants, including the issue of fair distribution of transplanted organ, the special protection of minor as a donor and the duality criterion of death. First, we should establish rights of human organ, which is the condition of organ transplants. Rights of human organ includes the protection of organ,arrangement of organ, rights to request compensation and so on. Generally, dispose of organ is forbidden. Second, we should protect legal interests of cadaver and its organ. The author's option is that cadaver and organ belongs to substance. After person die, it belongs to the successor as inheritance, but, the successor's right is strictly limited. Then, we should strengthen the legal protection of minor's life rights, paid donation and organ's fairly assignment is advocated. Finally, we should establish the duality criterion of death; the life is independent and absolutely voluntary, implement the duality criterion of death, which is based on cardiopulmonary death and brain death.I hope that more attention to legislation on organ transplants could be aroused. The organ transplants could be a great benefit to people.