Ethics of

Blood & Organ

Donation

By
Prof Ahmed Agamy
Dr Tayseer Mansour
 Objectives
Blood Donation
❑ The basic eligibility criteria for blood donation
❑ Preparation for blood donation
❑ Precautions before, during and after blood
donation
❑ Benefits of blood donation
❑ Buying and selling organs and blood
Organ donation
❑ Definition
❑ Sources for donor organs
❑ Distributive justice of available organs
❑ Organ donation in Islam
Blood Donation
 The basic eligibility criteria for
blood donation
1-Age: between 18 and 65
(age below 18 result in a temporary deferral and age above
65 lead to permanent deferral).
2-Weight: at least 50 kg.
3-Good health at the time of donation:
i.e. no flu, sore throat, cold or any other infection. All these
are temporary contraindications.
4-Normal hemoglobin concentration:
The minimal level eligible for blood donation is 12 g/dl for
females and 13 g/dl for males. Anemia is a temporary
contraindication for blood donation (result in a temporary
deferral).
5-No recent travel to certain risk areas:
Travel to areas where mosquito-borne infections are
endemic, e.g. malaria may result in a temporary deferral.
6-No Pregnancy and no breastfeeding for a
reasonable duration before donation:
Following childbirth, the deferral period is at least 9
months (as for pregnancy) and until 3 months after the
baby is significantly weaned.
7-12 weeks (3 months) at least passed after the last
donation:
Donation interval before making the next donation is at
least 12 weeks (3 months).
8-Not addict:
Individuals injected recreational drugs will be deferred
permanently.
9-Free from blood transmitted diseases:
Individuals with blood transmitted diseases as AIDS and
hepatitis will be deferred permanently.
 Preparation for blood donation
The aim of this to check if the person is suitable blood donor
or not i.e. full filling the basic eligibility criteria mentioned
before or not.
1-Getting patient consent:
The physician should obtain the patient’s consent. In this
case it is written or signed consent.
As in any other medical procedure for consent to be legal 3
preconditions should be fulfilled:
I-Disclosure:- Means the provision of comprehensive
information to the patient by the physician including:
a-The basic eligibility criteria for blood donation
b-Benefits of blood donation
c-Precautions before during and after blood donation.
II-Capacity:- Means the patient's ability to understand the
relevant information i.e. not minor not insane or
unconscious.
 III-Voluntariness:- Means the patient's come to the
decision freely, without force or pressure.
2-The patient fill out a confidential medical history:
It includes direct questions about behaviors known to
carry a higher risk of blood borne infections. All of the
information from this evaluation is kept strictly
confidential.
3-The patient undergo brief physical examination:
It includes checking blood pressure, pulse and
temperature.
4-A small sample of blood is taken:
It is used to check hemoglobin level and blood borne
diseases.
 Precautions before, during
and after blood donation
Precautions before blood donation: The patient should
1) Get plenty sleep the night before donation.
2) Eat a healthy meal before donation. Avoid fatty foods as
tests for infections done on all donated blood can be
affected by fats that appear in the blood for several hours
after eating fatty foods.
3) Drink about 500 ml of water and other fluids before the
donation.
Precautions during blood donation:
1) The patient lie or sit in a reclining chair with his arm
extended on an armrest.
2) A blood pressure cuff or tourniquet is placed around the
upper arm to fill the veins with more blood.
3) A new, sterile needle is inserted into a vein in the arm. This
needle is attached to a thin, plastic tube and a blood bag.
Once the needle is in place, you tighten your fist several
times to help the blood flow from the vein.
4) The process will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes..
When complete, the needle is removed, a small bandage is
placed on the needle site and a dressing is wrapped
around your arm.
Precautions after blood donation: The patient should
1) Sit in the observation area for 15 minutes and eat a light
snack.
2) Drink extra fluids for the next day or two.
3) Avoid strenuous physical activity or heavy lifting for the
next five hours.
 Benefits of blood donation
Donating blood has benefits for the emotional and physical
health.
1-Emotional benefits:
A-Reduce stress
B-Help get rid of negative feelings
C-Reduce isolation
2-May lower the risk of heart disease:
This is because it
A-Reduces the blood’s viscosity.
B-Significantly lowers the mean total cholesterol and low-
density lipoprotein cholesterol.
C-Lowers iron stores. High body iron stores are believed to
increase the risk of heart attack.
3-Small decrease in the risk of certain cancers:
In people who are regular blood donors it reduces the risk
of cancers that are linked to high iron levels, including
cancer of the: liver, colon, lung, esophagus, stomach.
4-Lowers inflammatory markers and increase
antioxidant capacity.
5-Free health checkup: Blood donors are required to
undergo physical examination and blood testing for
hemoglobin and blood borne diseases.

Buying and selling organs

and blood
❑ Buying and selling organs is completely prohibited both
ethically and legally nearly all over the world.
❑ Market of organs is unethical and illegal under any
circumstances.
❑ Human body is a gift from Allah and not our own and we
are responsible for keeping its integrity.
The most common logical arguments with this:
1-Donor safety
2-It dangerously undermines human dignity
3-Turning the body into a money-making tool
4-Wealthy people would be able to access more readily

This does not prevent the possibility of some Incentives to

encourage donation:
Some of the most frequently debated incentive strategies are:
1. Donate to a charity in the deceased person’s name if
organs are donated
2. Offer recognition and gratitude incentives like a plaque or
memorial
3. Provide financial or payment incentives
Organ Donation
Definition:- Organ donation is the gift of an organ to help
someone else who needs a transplant. Hundreds of
people's lives are SAVED or improved each year by organ
transplants.
❑ The term “organ transplant” typically refers to transplants
of the solid organs: heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas
and intestines.
❑ Animal and artificial organs may also serve as
transplantable organs.
❑ Other types of transplants that are less invasive or may
require specialized procedures, include:
•Skin transplants or grafts
•Corneal transplants.
•Bone marrow transplants
 There are two sources for donor organs
1-Cadaveric organ donation:
❑ Organs taken from deceased people are called cadaveric
organs. Cadaver is Latin for “a dead body.”
❑ After person dies, his organs may be donated only if the
person gives consent to donate his organs while still
living.
The person might give consent to donate all organs or only
some organs
❑ The organs are taken immediately after diagnosis of brain
death and before cellular death.
2-Living organ donation:
❑ Living people who give consent to donate their organs can
donate in two ways:
1. Donate one-half of a paired organ set. Example: Kidney
2. Donate a portion of an organ that will still be able to
function without it e.g. a portion of the liver or a lobe of
the lung .
There are a number of benefits to living organ donation, both
for the donor and the patient:
1-The donation can be pre-arranged, allowing the patient to
begin taking antirejection drugs in advance, thereby
increasing the chances of success
2-There are often better matches between donors and
recipients with living donation, because many donors are
genetically related to the recipient
3-Psychological benefits for both the donors and recipients.

Distributive justice of available organs

The concept of distributive justice – how to fairly divide
resources – arises around organ transplantation because
there are not enough organs available for everyone.
There are 2 distributive justice criteria:
1-Equal access: Organs are distributed to patients based
on objective factors aimed to limit bias and unfair
distribution.
 Equal access criteria include:
A-Length of time waiting (i.e. first come, first served)
B-Age (i.e. youngest to oldest)
2-Maximum benefit: The goal for maximum benefit criteria
is to maximize the number of successful transplants.
Examples of maximum benefit criteria include:
1-Medical need (i.e. the sickest people are given the first
opportunity for a transplantable organ)
2-Probable success of a transplant e.g.
A-Giving organs to the person who will be most likely to live
the longest.
B-People whose lifestyle is normal take priority than those
people whose lifestyle choices (smoking, drinking, drug
use, obesity, etc.) damaged their organ.
 ‫‪Organ donation in Islam‬‬
‫‪The religion of Islam believes in the principle of saving‬‬
‫‪human lives and the majority of the Muslim scholars have‬‬
‫‪permitted the organ transplant as a necessity to get this‬‬
‫‪noble end.‬‬

‫‪In KSA‬‬
‫مضـمـون قــرار هـيـئـة كـبـار الـعــلمـاء رقــــم ‪ 99‬وتـاريخ ‪6/11/1402‬هـ‬
‫قرر المجلس باإلجماع جواز نقل عضو أو جزئه من إنسان حي مسلم أو ذمي إلى‬
‫نفسه إذا دعت الحاجة إليه وأمن الخطر في نزعه وغلب على الظن نجاح زرعه كما‬
‫قرر باألكثرية ما يلي‪-:‬‬
‫(‪ )1‬جواز نقل عضو أو جزئه من إنسان ميت إلى مسلم إذا اضطر إلى ذلك وأمنت‬
‫الفتنة في نزعه ممن أخذ منه وغلب على الظن نجاح زرعه فيمن سيزرع فيه‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )2‬جواز تبرع اإلنسان الحي بنقل عضو منه أو جزئه إلى مسلم مضطر إلى ذلك‬
‫وباهلل التوفيق وصلى هللا على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم‪.‬‬
‫هيئة كبار العلماء‬