A new proposal has set tongues wagging and relates to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDCs) suggestion that those who have had more than two sexual partners within the space of one year should not be applicable for organ donation due to the fact that they would be considered more at risk of sexually transmitted infections including HIV and that this is the case for both living and dead donors.
Health professionals are worried that potential donors would be put off by such restrictions and questions regarding their sexual history. Furthermore, they question how a health professional would go about questioning family and friends about the sexual history of a deceased donor?
However, the CDC says that rather than turn away donors who have had more than two sexual partners in a year, they would merely carry out more tests than they usually would.
We are not convinced by this new proposal and it does not take into account how this information is to be gathered and even if someone is categorised as “promiscuous”, they might have been having safe sex, as most responsible people do. If you are responsible enough to sign up as a donor, you are probably responsible enough to have been careful about your own sexual health. As for carrying out additional screening of organs for transplant, rigorous screening already takes place.