by Dr Bonnie Venter, University of Bristol, and Dr Liam Davis, University of Liverpool
When living kidney donors or surrogates come forward, we expect them to be motivated by altruism. Essentially, we want these individuals to selflessly help others without expecting anything in return. In recent years, the importance of altruism as the guiding value for living kidney donation (LKD) and surrogacy has been reaffirmed. The Nuffield Council for Bioethics, in their report, Human Bodies: Donation for Medicine and Research (2011), recommended that altruism remain the central value in the donation of bodily materials, and professional guidance describes altruism as the basis for organ donation. The same was echoed in 2023 when the Law Commissions of England, Wales and Scotland considered surrogacy for legal reform and underscored that surrogacy ought to remain an altruistic act.
Altruism, however, has been and continues to be open to criticism. It is not clearly defined in policy; is often applied inconsistently in practice; and is used as a means to shape the regulation of organ donation and surrogacy. Recognising this issue, we applied for funding from the Institute of Medical Ethics to host a roundtable in June 2025 at the University of Bristol. (more…)