Medical law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Medical law - Essay Example Debates surrounding the law have been noted to have come from two major perspectives, the first of which is a legal and professional perspective, and the second being humanity and ethical perspective.1 It has been said that the controversies surrounding the laws have always arisen from a perspective where people have looked at the law from a human and ethical perspective rather than from a legal and professional perspective.2 The reason much controversy is said to arise when the law is viewed from humanity and ethical perspective is that it gives way for people to judge the law mainly from how wrong and dehumanising it is to take organs from a dead person, especially when the person did not leave any living proof of consent.3 Meanwhile, there is the legal and professional perspective which also looks at the impact of a refusal to engage in the supply of human organs for transplantation on the living. For example, the right to live has been argued to apply to the living rather than the dead and so it is important that as far as there is a professional medical intervention that can save a living person rather than a dead person, that intervention must be applied4. In this paper, the writer combines both sides of the argument and critically evaluates recent changes to the law, while giving alternative responses that can help increase the supply of human organs for transplantation. The Human Tissue Act 2004 is the current set of laws regulating the supply of human tissue for transplantation in the U.K. The Human Tissue Act 2004 is generally in place to regulate the activities bordering on the removal, storage, use and disposal of human tissue5. The laws were established by the Human Tissue Authority, which currently puts emphasis on consent. By consent, reference is being made to the need for a person, whiles alive to agree that once he or she dies, there can be a supply of part of his or her tissue for issues of medical purposes prescribed under the Act.