Abstract
An obligation to provide information pertaining to organ removal from deceased organ donors is laid down in §7 of the German Organ Transplantation Law (Transplantationsgesetz/TPG). This obligation to provide information serves the physician who is planning a removal of an organ or other tissue with the consent of the organ donor of the approval of other persons. Included among these persons are also the authorities which have possession of the cadaver. It is the legislative intention that these authorities also include the offices of the public prosecutors. In order to transplant tissue successfully a swift decision under strict observance of the wishes of the deceased is necessary. A contrary view under the guise of data protection contradicts the legal mandate for the encouragement of organ and tissue donations, the medical requirement for swift decisions and leads to unsatisfactory legal curtailment for the relatives and a possible infringement of the wishes of the deceased.
| Translated title of the contribution | The obligation of police authorities to provide information in cases of post mortem tissue transplantation from the point of view of data privacy protection |
|---|---|
| Original language | German |
| Pages (from-to) | 258-265 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Rechtsmedizin |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2004 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Data privacy protection
- German code of criminal procedure
- Obligation to provide information
- Organ transplantation law
- Transplantation of cadaver tissue