PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Samuel Littlejohns
AU  - Holly Bontoft
AU  - Peter Littlejohns
AU  - Judith Richardson
AU  - Alistair Robertson
TI  - Legal and ethical implications of NICE guidance aimed at optimising organ transplantation after circulatory death
AID  - 10.7861/clinmedicine.13-4-340
DP  - 2013 Aug 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - 340--343
VI  - 13
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/13/4/340.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/13/4/340.full
SO  - Clin Med2013 Aug 01; 13
AB  - Increasing the number of organ transplants is a priority for most governments. While potential new legislation for donor registration, such as the Welsh Government white paper on establishing an opt-out system for Welsh residents, is the focus of most ethical and legal scrutiny, there are also other approaches to increase the number of patients receiving organ transplants. The then National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidance on this issue in 2011, but subsequent debate in this journal has suggested that the guidance was presumptuous and might encourage unethical practice. This paper addresses these concerns and concludes that the NICE guidance provides a legal, ethical and clinically relevant way forward in a complex and developing public health issue.