Lives and choices, give and take: Altruism and organ procurement.

In 2015, Wales introduced a deemed consent: soft opt-out system for organ procurement in order to address the chronic shortage of organs for transplant. Early statistical evidence suggests that this has had a positive impact on cadaveric organ donation. Such a system for procurement has previously been dismissed by the Organ Donation Taskforce, who suggested that opting out could potentially undermine the concept of donated organs as gifts and this could then negatively impact the number of organs offered for transplant. Considerable weight was placed upon the need to retain the altruistic gift element associated with an opt-in system. This article will consider the role of altruism in an organ procurement policy. A broad utilitarian approach will be taken when putting forward the arguments in favour of adopting a weak altruism position in a soft opt-out system for procurement with a combined registry.

Meet the next generation. Interview by Alison Whyte.

Nursing Standard profiles five nursing students who embarked on their studies at the University of Liverpool in September 2008. Readers will be able to find out about their experiences half way through the course and again at the end.