Potential Donors Face Scrutiny

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From the Boston Globe, 4/16/01:

As the nation faces a shortage of transplant organs, and as science

allows a wider range of people to donate, doctors are stepping up

efforts to weed out those who offer to give because they are mentally

unbalanced, unrealistic about the risks, or pressured by others.

For example, one volunteer at an organ-donor program broke down while

talking to a therapist, saying his family was ''holding an emotional

gun'' to his head and forcing him to donate. Psychologists say the

''black sheep'' of families sometimes are pressured to give - made to

feel their siblings, with good jobs or young children, shouldn't be

asked.

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Organ_donor_face_scrutiny_on_motivation+.shtml