Social media and organ donation: Ethically navigating the next frontier.
As the organ shortage continues to grow, the creation of social media communities by transplant hospitals and the public is rapidly expanding to increase the number of living donors. Social media communities are arranged in myriad ways and without standardization, raising concerns about transplant candidates' and potential donors' autonomy and quality of care. Social media communities magnify and modify extant ethical issues in deceased and living donation related to privacy, confidentiality, professionalism, and informed consent, and increase the potential for undue influence and coercion for potential donors and transplant candidates. Currently, no national ethical guidelines have been developed in the United States regarding the use of social media to foster organ transplantation. We provide an ethical framework to guide transplant stakeholders in using social media for public and patient communication about transplantation and living donation, and offer recommendations for transplant clinical practice and future research.
['Henderson|M L|ML|', 'Clayville|K A|KA|', 'Fisher|J S|JS|', 'Kuntz|K K|KK|', 'Mysel|H|H|', 'Purnell|T S|TS|', 'Schaffer|R L|RL|', 'Sherman|L A|LA|', 'Willock|E P|EP|', 'Gordon|E J|EJ|']
D006801:Humans D007258:Informed Consent D019520:Living Donors D016377:Organ Transplantation D010353:Patient Education as Topic D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic D061108:Social Media D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement D014481:United States
social media organ transplantation donors and donation: living ethics and public policy internet