Project

Jodie White is a PhD candidate in the Minerva Research Group The Ethics of Exchange: The Law and Regulation of Organ Donation and Transplantation, headed by Dr Farrah Raza. Through its assessment of the regulations surrounding organ donation within the UK, White’s project will relate primarily to Workstream 1, Regulation and Decision Making in Organ Donation and Transplantation. However, the research will also relate to Workstream 2, Religion, Culture and Minority Rights in Organ Donation and Transplantation, particularly in regard to the focus on the right to freedom of religion.

White’s research project focuses on the ethics of organ donation and transplantation from a human rights perspective. The principal aim is to assess the extent to which organ donation regulations and processes comply with human rights standards, with a focus on the UK legal system and the European Convention on Human Rights. Looking specifically at organ transplantation and the rights of the recipient, White will assess the legal frameworks surrounding the informed consent, allocation and eligibility processes. Rights such as the right to health and the right to respect for private and family life will be critically analysed in light of medical ethics, such as consent and autonomy. Finally, the right to freedom of religion will be a significant focus of White‘s research; the differing religious views on organ transplantation can create potential conflicts between religious freedom and personal beliefs.

In her thesis White will aim to draw a link between human rights and other medical ethics, assessing which ethics are compatible with human rights and which are contradictory. After an in-depth assessment of the legal frameworks surrounding organ donation, along with the boundaries of the relevant human rights, White intends to determine how these rights interact with ethical principles, as well as how these legal regulations impact individuals in practice.