European Living Donation and Public Health (EULID Project)

Abstract

Donation from alive people has been growing strongly in the recent years, thanks to the advance in the field of organ transplantation and its success as a treatment to procure quality-adjusted life years for many patients with end–stage diseases. The choice of transplantation from a living donor (LD) offers some advantages compared to that for a deceased donor. However, it also carries disadvantages related to donor risks in terms of health and safety, and there are several controversial ethical aspects to be taken into account. There is no specific pronouncement of the European Union in relation to standards to quality and safety for the living donor process, and there is a great heterogeneity among European Countries legislation, ethical concern, and protection systems and donor´s data registries on the topic. The EULID project aims to establish European common standard framework regarding living donor issues to guarantee their health and safety thorough common practices and regulation.