Legislation: Making Transplants Easier

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Moderate Solution. Some boosters of transplant surgery feel that the Uniform Act does not go far enough. UCLA Law Professor Jesse Dukeminier Jr., for one, believes that gifts alone will never produce enough organs to meet the growing demands. He suggests a statutory alternative that would permit surgeons to routinely remove a cadaver's organs for transplants unless they are notified that either the deceased or his relatives had expressed objections.

For most Americans, Dukeminier's approach is likely to sound far too radical. In the Christian tradition, as Columnist Max Lerner observed last week, "you wanted your body whole for the day of resurrection." This is no doubt one source of the religious and psychological reservations that many people have about organ donations. Until their attitudes change—and until doctors demonstrate greater success with transplants—the Uniform Act will provide a moderate solution that encourages donations but at the same time recognizes the intent of the dead and the feelings of their survivors.