The Last Will and Consent of the Next of Kin in Removing Organs

Upon his death, man is deprived of a lot of his rights and loses any choice, capacity and domination over himself from creational perspective. In addition, respecting the dead body of Muslims and observing his dignity is a religious and conventional obligation. Now the question arises whether a man has the religious right and power to decide about his body after death and about removing organs from his body for transplantation. Is it possible for him to make a testamentary will about this issue? Another question also arises whether the next of kin of the dead have the right of deciding about the body of the ward and whether their consent in this regard is of significance or not. To answer these questions, we study the issue under the two titles of testamentary will and guardianship. The single clause bill concerning the 1379 Act of “organ transplantation of the dead patients or those whose brain death is inevitable”, has stipulated the testamentary will of the patient or the consent of the next of kin. There is a fundamental difference between the view of the proponents and that of the opponents of removing organs from a dead man according to his will. The consent of the next of kin of the dead man is indicative of the permission and consent of the owner of the organ. Thus this permission is valid and plays the role of a license for removing organs.