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Opt-Outs and Upgrades

Ethics and Law in the United Kingdom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2014

TREVOR STAMMERS  and
MATT JAMES
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Abstract:

We report on two areas in which UK law and ethics seem out of step with each other. 2013 saw the passing of the Human Transplantation (Wales) Bill, which will introduce an opt-out system of organ donation in Wales from 2015. In the first section, we discuss the convoluted evolution of the Bill and some potential problems that we consider may prevent it from achieving its intended goal of increasing the number of organs transplanted. The prospect of being able to enhance human cognition through cognitive-enhancing drugs (“smart drugs”) also presents a nexus of questions associated with future ambitions, hopes, and concerns as a society. How these drugs might affect the future of work and employment is beginning to generate wide public engagement in the UK and forms the focus of the second section.

Keywords

organ donationorgan transplantationopt outpresumed consentcognitive-enhancing drugssmart drugsRitalinmodafinilhuman enhancement
Type
Special Section: Bioethics Beyond Borders
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , July 2014 , pp. 308 - 318
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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References

Notes

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