Rethinking the Ethics of Vital Organ Donations

The article focuses on the ethical implications of vital organ donations. Under the dead donor rule, retrieval of vital organs are deemed permissible only for dead patients, including those diagnosed as brain dead. However, ethical issues have been raised for patients who have experienced traumatic brain injury but do not meet criteria for brain death. There has been the increasing practice of vital organ extraction from these patients and it has become a source of ethical dilemma despite the necessity of the dead donor rule.