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Lay attitudes toward involuntary organ procurement from death-row prisoners: no, but

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2019

MAYA BAR-HILLEL  and
JACOB LAVEE
MAYA BAR-HILLEL*
Affiliation:
Center for the Study of Rationality, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
JACOB LAVEE
Affiliation:
Heart Transplantation Unit, Sheba Medical Center and School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
*
*Correspondence to: Maya Bar-Hillel, The Center for Rationality, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Safra Campus, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. Email: maya@huji.ac.il
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Abstract

A multi-item questionnaire concerning lay people's attitudes toward organ procurement without consent from executed prisoners was given to several hundred respondents. The items ranged from all-out condemnation (“It is tantamount to murder”) to enthusiasm (“It is great to have this organ supply”). Overall, we found two guiding principles upheld by most respondents: (1) Convicts have as much a right to their bodies and organs as other people, so the practice should be judged by the same standards as those that guide organ procurement from any donor. Procuring organs without consent is wrong. (2) Benefiting from those organs should be held to more lenient standards than are demanded for their procurement. So, benefitting from these ill-gotten organs should be tolerated.

Type
Article
Information
Behavioural Public Policy , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , April 2022 , pp. 325 - 341
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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