Arthur Caplan wants your organs, but not until you are done using them.
Undergraduates, medical-school students and doctors gathered in Logan Hall yesterday afternoon to consider and debate the ethics of organ transplants.
Caplan, a recognized author, commentator and Penn professor, gave the keynote address at the 'I Want Your Organs: How Should We Get Donors and Who Should Get Their Parts?' event.
"It's my dream to figure out how to collect more organs for transplants," he said.
Caplan, the director of the Penn Center for Bioethics, noted three main stigmas he feels are associated with transplant procedures: issues of mutilation, pressure to donate and a transplant's potential to do more harm than good.
He countered opposition on religious grounds -- the Bible, Caplan said, forbids self-mutilation -- by saying that if surgery is permitted, transplants should be no different.
"It is wrong to mutilate oneself," Caplan said. "But it is OK if the ultimate goal is to assist someone else. You can see the value of altruism."
He nevertheless urged all donors to do their research.
"Agreeing to donate posthumously means agreeing to the possibility of donating your face," he said, highlighting an often-overlooked body part that may be donated.
Caplan added that donors frequently view the chance to save a life as "the ultimate gain."
"The benefit for the donor is emotional," he said. "The risk is small, and the benefit includes some sort of reward."
Comparing different methods of eliciting donations, Caplan said that unlike U.S. citizens, who must agree to donate, those of France and Spain are automatically considered donors unless they choose otherwise.
He added that organ transplants, including those of the liver and heart, can improve the quality of -- and add 30 years to -- a patient's life.
Caplan lamented the disproportional ratio that exists between the number of donors needed and those available.
"While I gave this talk, at least one person on the waiting list [for an organ] died," he said. "It's definitely not trivial."
College sophomore Lauren Hurwitz enjoyed the talk.
"I thought the speaker was fascinating," Hurwitz said. "I went because I wanted to learn more about an interesting topic I wouldn't necessarily take a class on."
