Presenter Information
Zehra Mehdi, Duquesne University Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences & Honors College
Abstract
A major ethical dilemma in living kidney donation is the sharing of information about either the recipient or donor. Ethical policies have been created for donor’s and recipient’s privacy, generally called “Confidentiality Policy for Patient/Recipient.” This policy ends up clashing when it comes to discovery of misattributed paternity. The discovery of misattributed paternity reveals information that is directly linked to both donor and recipient. This information is the discovery by healthcare provider that the recipient (father or child) is not biologically related to the donor (father or child). Each case of misattributed paternity can vary, such as the age of child, presence of mother, and how misattributed paternity was discovered. This poster will explore this ethical dilemma assuming that both recipient and donor are adults, the mother is dead, and misattributed paternity was discovered during a blood test to determine whether or not the donor can donate their kidney. Several ethical principles (autonomy, confidentiality, deontology, informed consent, paternalism, beneficence, and nonmaleficence) were applied in this paper to analyze three distinct ethical arguments: nondisclosure, disclosure, and informed consent. Empirical studies have surveyed donors’, recipients’, and healthcare providers’ thoughts on this matter. As this ethical dilemma effects all three parties, this analysis provides an ethical justification for choosing one ethical argument as the foundation for proper policies that protects donor’s and recipient’s privacy without the physician violating either one of these privacies. Overall, this paper analyzes three distinct ethical arguments and possibly provides a foundation for policies regarding this ethical dilemma.
School
Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences
Advisor
Joris Gielen
Submission Type
Paper
Publication Date
April 2023
The Ethical Dilemma of Discovering Misattributed Paternity in Living Kidney Donation
A major ethical dilemma in living kidney donation is the sharing of information about either the recipient or donor. Ethical policies have been created for donor’s and recipient’s privacy, generally called “Confidentiality Policy for Patient/Recipient.” This policy ends up clashing when it comes to discovery of misattributed paternity. The discovery of misattributed paternity reveals information that is directly linked to both donor and recipient. This information is the discovery by healthcare provider that the recipient (father or child) is not biologically related to the donor (father or child). Each case of misattributed paternity can vary, such as the age of child, presence of mother, and how misattributed paternity was discovered. This poster will explore this ethical dilemma assuming that both recipient and donor are adults, the mother is dead, and misattributed paternity was discovered during a blood test to determine whether or not the donor can donate their kidney. Several ethical principles (autonomy, confidentiality, deontology, informed consent, paternalism, beneficence, and nonmaleficence) were applied in this paper to analyze three distinct ethical arguments: nondisclosure, disclosure, and informed consent. Empirical studies have surveyed donors’, recipients’, and healthcare providers’ thoughts on this matter. As this ethical dilemma effects all three parties, this analysis provides an ethical justification for choosing one ethical argument as the foundation for proper policies that protects donor’s and recipient’s privacy without the physician violating either one of these privacies. Overall, this paper analyzes three distinct ethical arguments and possibly provides a foundation for policies regarding this ethical dilemma.