Transplant surgeon: Plan to keep patients alive just for organs is unethical

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Under radical proposals from the British Medical Association to solve the organ shortage, hearts could also be taken from newborn babies.
But Professor Nadey Hakim, surgical director at Hammersmith Hospital's West London Transplant Unit, said doctor/patient trust would be damaged.

"It's not ethical keeping someone alive," he said. "They're brain dead and you have to remember there's a family next door in tears. I find it bizarre that the BMA wants to push for something so unpopular. This is how we kill any desire for people to become donors."

He added that heart operations were in any case being cancelled because there are too few intensive care beds. The BMA proposals were published today in response to a desperate lack of donors that sees up to 1,000 people a year die for want of suitable organs.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, BMA head of ethics, said that when organ harvesting was properly explained, "relatives understand that their loved one's heart isn't being jump-started and going back to normal or near-normal function... the way you see it on Holby City".

The BMA also backs "opt-out" organ donation - presumed consent of willingness to donate - instead of the current "opt-in" system, where donors must come forward. Professor Hakim said he, too, favours "opt-out".