Living related liver transplantation: ethical reflexions of the results from on empirical study with 22 potential donors

Ressources of cadaver livers for transplantation being limited Living Related liver Transplantation (LRLT) gains growing importance since surgical technical questions ore solved. In contrast to other living related transplantation in the case of liver transplantation the donor agrees to resection of a port of a singular vital organ and the recipient dies if transplantation is unsuccessful. Therefore and resulting from the dose personal relation between donor and recipient, a high psychosocial impact has to be expected during the process of preoperative evaluation, referring to e.g. donors' motivations and issues of voluntariness. Psychometric findings from pre transplantation evaluation of 22 donors reveal a self presentation of super healthiness and adoption to putative social expectations, suggesting strong repressive coping stiles with doubts, ambivalence and anxiety. Reflecting these results from on ethical point of view leeds to the assumption of that donors comply with an axiological (worth related) imperative.