Analysis of international experience in the legal regulation of posthumous consent for donation and its implementation in Ukraine

Abstract

The relevance of this study is associated with the acute shortage of organs for transplantation, which is a widespread issue in healthcare systems worldwide. The purpose of the study is to identify potential ways to increase the number of individuals providing posthumous consent for donation and, consequently, the availability of donor material in Ukraine, based on the experience of foreign countries. The study utilises general scientific methods (formal-logical, analysis, synthesis, comparison) and specific legal methods (formal-legal, comparative-legal) to gather, process, and present information. The paper analyses the international experience in the legal regulation of posthumous consent for donation and explores its implementation in Ukraine. The study establishes that some countries have partially addressed the problem of organ shortage through legislative provisions allowing for the transplantation of organs from deceased donors. Ukraine has also conducted operations using posthumous donor material. During the investigation, it was found that in certain countries, including Ukraine, there is a presumption of donor dissent, meaning that a person is considered not willing to be a donor if they have not expressed their consent during their lifetime. Conversely, the concept of presumed consent considers a person to be a posthumous donor if they have not explicitly refused to be one during their lifetime. The study proposes and justifies the expediency of potential solutions to the organ shortage problem, including conducting extensive public awareness campaigns to promote the idea of posthumous donation, implementing presumed consent for posthumous donation, and continuing efforts to provide individuals with the option to make their choices regarding posthumous donation electronically. The results of this paper can be utilised to improve Ukrainian legislation in the field of posthumous donation and can be directly applied in the practices of legal professionals working in civil and medical law, and medical practitioners.