Global legislation regulating the donation, procurement and distribution processes of organs and tissues from deceased donors for transplants: A scoping review

Abstract

Introduction: Organ transplantation is one of the most successful advances in modern medicine. However, a legal system is necessary for its practice to be free from ethical flaws and to respect donors, recipients, and family members. Objective: To map the global legislation regulating the donation, capture and distribution processes of organs and tissues from deceased donors for transplants. Method: A scoping review according to the Joanna Briggs Institute was conducted in the following databases: Medline, CINAHL, Virtual Health Library, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Science Direct, and EMBASE, as well as gray literature, and reported according to the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. Results: We identified 3302 records, of which 77 were analyzed which enabled mapping the type of consent adopted and the existence of current legislation for harvesting organs and tissues after circulatory and brain death. Conclusion: Opt-out consent predominates in Europe, and there is harvesting after brain and circulatory death. Opt-out predominates in the Americas, while Opt-in and harvesting of organs and tissues after brain death predominate in Asia and Oceania. The procurement of organs and tissues from deceased donors is practically non-existent in Africa.

Keywords

• Legislation
• Jurisprudence
• Tissue and organ procurement
• Donor selection
• Tissue donors