ORGAN TRANSPLANTS IN GHANA: FINDING A CONTEXT-APPROPRIATE ANDPRACTICALLY WORKABLE ETHICO-LEGAL POLICY FRAMEWORK

Abstract

Ghana is undertaking strenuous efforts to make organ transplantation a routine surgicalprocedure by the end of 2014. Thus far, some 20 test kidney transplants using living relatedorgan donors have been carried out in Ghana. However the current practice of retrieval, retentionand use of (deceased) human organs and tissues following pathological services is not done inaccordance with the requirements of existing law. Also, the time of human death, its relationshipwith obtaining organs for transplant as well as the sociocultural sensitivity Ghanaians attach todeath and dying are not explored in that context. Furthermore, there is no coherent examinationof the various interests and rights recognised by Ghanaian law in deceased human bodies despitethat fact that progress in medicine and biotechnology has recast the value in human biomaterials.Consequently, given that organ transplantation is new to Ghana; that there are no ethical, legal andprofessional governance frameworks specific to the sector; that there are concerns about a systemicculture of inappropriate retention and use of human body parts following pathological services; that thereis illicit trade in human body parts (ova, sperm etc.); and that Ghana is undertaking test kidney transplantsin the absence of specific ethical, legal and clinical guidance addressing the controversies surrounding thepermissible uses of human organs and tissues; this doctoral thesis argues that examining these ethicolegalcontroversies within the Ghanaian socio-legal setting constitutes an essential step in thequest for context-appropriate and practically workable regulatory and governance frameworks for theemerging transplant sector in that country.Towards this end, the thesis discusses indigenous thinking around death (Post-mortemPersonality Identity Renegotiation (PPIR)), ancestorship and the position of Ghanaian customarylaw on ownership interests and rights in deceased bodies and their parts and points policymakersto how the socio-legal peculiarities of the Ghanaian regulatory context could be exploited toachieve the dual aims of finding an adequate balance between, on the one hand, protectingindividual, family and societal interests, and on the other hand, promoting the social utility aimsof organ transplantation and science research. It concludes by proposing that i) the desiredregulatory balance could be achieved through legal foresighting, and ii) that any such regulationmust affirm the recognition of property interests in (deceased) bodies by Ghanaian customarylaw as that reflects the cultural, social and constitutional values of the that regulatory context.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Sarah Devaney (Supervisor) & Soren Holm (Supervisor)