Spare Parts: One day you might need them

Saviour siblings, face transplants, the recording of donated sperm or eggs on a birth certificate... we’ve come a long way since a heart or kidney transplant would make the news headlines.

It’s easy to think ‘it will never happen to me’, but accidents happen. Maybe you would need a blood transfusion. If your face were horribly disfigured, a facial tissue transplant could restore your identity. So successful is organ transplantation now that demand far outstrips supply and the Chief Medical Officer is calling for ‘presumed consent’, meaning that it would be presumed people are willing to have their organs removed after they die, so distraught families will not have to make a difficult decision at the time of a tragedy.

To keep pace with developments in medicine and science, a radical overhaul of the law is in the pipeline.

The proposed human tissue and embryos bill will allow a huge expansion in how tissues - from blood to embryos - are acquired, and how they are used, for example in tissue engineering or stem-cell research. Saviour siblings, children created to provide treatment for a sick brother or sister, are but one issue these new technologies raise.

Donated brains provide researchers with invaluable material for studies into multiple sclerosis. Many more people can save or improve lives by donating tissue while they are alive.

What are your views? Are you willing to give as well as receive donated tissue? Join us for a discussion on this important issue.

Event organised by:
The European Dana Alliance for the Brain and the London School of Economics

Speakers

Ruth Warwick, British Association for Tissue Banking
Richard Reynolds, UK MS Tissue Bank
Facilitator: Sarah Franklin, London School of Economics