Självbestämmandeprincipen och informerat samtycke : Upprättandet av rättigheter efter döden genom Socialstyrelsens informationskampanj inför transplantationslagen 1996

Sammanfattning:

This study aims to analyse the strategy to communicate the right to donate organs and tissues through the public information campaign by Socialstyrelsen, in order to raise awareness of the new transplantation law in 1996. During the late 1980s, the new death criteria in Sweden and new medical knowledge produced new conditions, and a revision of the old transplantation law was needed. A commission of inquiry was set in 1989 to investigate the ethical, medical and legal aspects of transplantation in Sweden whereby the inquiry set forth a proposal that a public information campaign was needed. The goal of the campaign was to ensure that the public would have the possibility to express their will about organ and tissue donation and that their will would be maintained after death. In this study of the campaign I try to analyse the establishment of the principal of self-determination and informed consent through two types of strategies used by Socialstyrelsen. First, the strategy of emphasis on the expressed will of the individual and second, the strategy of not changing the attitude of the public on matters of death and body perception. The recomposition of these attitudes by the campaign, still with the intention of not affecting the public thoughts on death and body perception, is also analysed. This relationship between the two strategies highlights the will of the individual after death and to a lesser degree the approach to life of the individual.