| Abstract: | This issue's Department of Law and Ethics was written by Gershon B. Grunfeld of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The need for the use of anencephalic newborns as organ donors is raised in two distinct ways. First is the fact that there are many chronically ill infants and children who may benefit from organ transplant, while there is a relative scarcity of available donors. Second is the desire of some parents of anencephalic infants to salvage some good from a tragic situation. The prognosis for these infants is death within hours, days, or weeks from birth (2). Nevertheless, the vital organs of anencephalic infants, other than the brain, are usually normal and suitable for transplantation (3). |
