Speaker(s):
Professor Sir Roy Calne, FRS

Sir Roy Calne FRS is a world-renowned surgeon and pioneer in organ transplantation. Formerly Professor of Surgery at the University of Cambridge, he is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall. The recipient of numerous distinguished awards, including the Lister Medal, he received the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award in 2012 which honours “visionaries whose insight and perseverance have led to dramatic advances that will prevent disease and prolong life.” He is also an artist.

Abstract:
Organ transplantation has led to an unprecedented break with traditional medical ethics, in that under certain carefully defined conditions a normal healthy individual may be harmed.  In addition, the shortage of organ donors has put enormous pressure on health resources by patients and doctors. Even though the gift of an organ is really a ‘gift of life’, to obtain an organ when a donor is not available puts stress on moral values. Even if these ethical matters cannot all be overcome, defining and discussing the moral dilemmas that may arise in organ transplantation is a move toward improving the ethical background in which transplants are performed. Moreover, fostering the culture of charity and compassion in organ donation is probably the most important approach to improving the number of organ transplants.