Biomedical Donor Rights

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Category: Human Rights   
Strength:  Significant   
Proposed by: [nation]Mousebumples[/nation]

Description: THE WORLD ASSEMBLY:

BELIEVES that all individuals should be accorded specific rights and protections under WA law.

REALIZES that many live donors of biomedical tissues often are donors for altruistic reasons and may receive no personal benefit from the procedure.

WISHES to ensure that donors of biomedical tissues shall not be exploited or discriminated against in any way throughout the donation process.

SPECIFIES that “biomedical tissues” shall include, at minimum, the following:


Blood and blood products, such as platelets and plasma.


Organs, such as the kidneys, liver, and heart.


Stem cells, such as embryonic stem cells, those found in the bone marrow and the umbilical cord, and other adult stem cells.
DETAILS that "biomedical procedures" shall include, at minimum, the donation, harvesting, transplantation, or transfusion of biomedical tissues.

DECLARES that prospective donors of biomedical tissues shall not be discriminated against without a valid medical rationale, such as blood and tissue typing or the presence of a dangerous contagion.

REQUIRES that the donation process for biomedical procedures shall involve:


Techniques that are as humane as is practicable using appropriate sterile technique for the procedure in question.


Testing and typing of the donor and donated biomedical tissues in order to:


Ensure that the donor, if a living donor, is healthy enough to undergo the donation procedure.


Determine whether or not a disease or infection is present in the biomedical tissue.


Simplify the matching of donated biomedical tissues with recipients so as to minimize negative transfusion reactions, biomedical tissue rejection, and the transference of disease or infection.
MANDATES that prospective donors shall be given all medically relevant facts regarding the biomedical procedure prior to obtaining their uncoerced, informed consent.


A legally completed advance health care directive (e.g. living will) shall be followed in order to respect the wishes of the individual in question.


In the absence of a legally completed advance health care directive, WA member nations may permit an individual's legal guardian or next-of-kin to provide uncoerced, informed consent on behalf of a donor in the event that the individual in question is under the threshold of majority or is otherwise unable to understand the information in question.
RECOMMENDS that individual WA member nations adopt an opt-out system for biomedical tissue donation from irreversibly "brain dead" donors, in the absence of a legally completed advance health care directive.

DECREES that the medical staff that determines whether or not an individual is irreversibly "brain dead" shall not include members of the transplant staff and shall not be influenced to provide false declarations that an individual is irreversibly "brain dead."

PERMITS individual WA Nations and their health care systems to delay or defer donation of biomedical tissues due to a donor's co-existing medical condition, which may place a potential recipient at risk; if such a medical condition exists, WA nations are urged to make all reasonable attempts at treatment so as to allow the donation to occur.

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Provisional vote for.

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Biomedical Donor Rights was passed 8,856 votes to 816.