A woman in Australia has become the first person in the world to have their organs harvested after ending their life by assisted suicide.
Karen Duncan, from Victoria, Australia, ended her life by assisted suicide after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease in August 2024. It is reported that Ms Duncan began having conversations about ending her life by assisted suicide with her family and doctors shortly after her diagnosis.
In Victoria, an individual can end their life by assisted suicide or euthanasia if they have been given a prognosis of 12 months. This follows a significant expansion of the law in Victoria in October last year, in which the prognosis required for eligibility in most cases of assisted suicide or euthanasia was doubled, from six months to 12 months.
Ms Duncan’s case was the first known instance of someone donating organs after ending their life by assisted suicide, though organs have previously been harvested from those who have ended their lives by euthanasia. Euthanasia is the intentional ending of another person’s life for their supposed benefit, while assisted suicide is the act of assisting another person in ending their own life.
It is reported that, with assisted suicide, the process of dying is slower due to the cause of death being the oral ingestion of a fatal drug, rather than the intravenous injection used for euthanasia. This increased length of time had sparked fears that organ function would deteriorate too much before the transplant could happen. Ms Duncan died 39 minutes after ingesting the fatal drug, yet her lungs, kidneys, heart valve, and eye tissue were able to be donated.
Controversial organ harvesting following assisted suicide and euthanasia “may pressure vulnerable patients” into ending their lives
Harvesting organs from individuals who have ended their lives by assisted suicide or euthanasia is a controversial practice. Dominique Martin, a professor in health, ethics and professionalism at Deakin University, said that such organ harvesting is “ethically complex”.
Organ donation from individuals whose lives have been ended by assisted suicide or euthanasia “depend[s] a huge amount on public trust in healthcare systems and healthcare professions to ensure that people are not being exploited or coerced during the end-of-life period”, Professor Martin said.
Some have argued that vulnerable people may be coerced or incentivised to end their lives through assisted suicide or euthanasia if they believe that other people might be waiting for their organs.
According to a 2023 review by Canadian medical authors of the legal and ethical concerns of organ harvesting following euthanasia, organ donation organisations in some Canadian provinces like Ontario and British Columbia, where assisted suicide and euthanasia are legal, “recommend that all patients who request [euthanasia or assisted suicide] are approached and informed about the possibility of organ donation”.
The authors of the review “expressed concerns that the conversation about the possibility of organ donation may pressure vulnerable patients to proceed with [euthanasia or assisted suicide]”, stating that this can “cause a breach of trust with the health care professionals”.
They stated that “informing them of this possibility may cause undue societal pressure for donation, and the desire to become a donor may be a driver for the [euthanasia or assisted suicide] request”.
Organ harvesting following death by assisted suicide sets dangerous precedent for England and Wales
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales for those with a prognosis of six months or less, is currently undergoing scrutiny at Committee Stage in the House of Lords.
Organ donation is not currently mentioned in the text of the assisted suicide Bill. If the Bill in its current form were passed and became law, there would be nothing to prevent harvesting organs from those who may end their lives by assisted suicide from taking place, including individuals feeling pressured or swayed into ending their lives due to a perceived obligation to pass on their organs.
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff has tabled an amendment to the Bill, which would ensure that the proposed assisted suicide panels would be required to determine that the law relating to organ donation for those who choose to end their lives by assisted suicide is upheld with the same rigour as in ordinary cases.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is troubling that if assisted suicide were legalised in England and Wales, cases where organs are harvested following an individual’s death by assisted suicide, like Ms Duncan’s, could take place”.
“Allowing those who are considering ending their lives to donate their organs may encourage or pressure vulnerable people into ending their lives, so that donating organs could be seen to be a significant driver for the request for assisted suicide”.
“This case highlights yet another area where there will likely be serious risks that arise if we legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales. Peers in the House of Lords must do their duty and reject this awful Bill”.
