5th ETCO Annual Meeting Riga, 3-5 October 2008 Title:

European Living Donation And Public Health (EULID) Authors: Pal-Dag Line2, Andy Maxwell4, Assumpta Ricart1, Leonídio J Silva Coelho Dias 3, Chloë Ballesté1, Irene Martínez1, David Paredes1, Jordi Vilardell1, Martí Manyalic1 and participants of the EULID Project.

Institutions:

1Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, 2UHR Rikshospitalet, 3HGSA Hospital Geral de Santo Antonio, 4UK Transplant. Presenting author:Assumpta Ricart. C/Aragó, 65 4rt 4ª. 08015. Barcelona. . e-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +34658518202; +34932269060

Introduction:

There is no specific pronouncement of the European Union in relation to standards of quality and safety for the living donation process, and there is a great heterogeneity among European countries on the topic. European legislation, registers and systematized experiences on organ living donors (LD) are still rare. This is surprising if we compare the situation with that of the donations proceeding from deceased people or directives on quality and safety regarding human tissues and cells. We present the EULID project which aim is to establish a European common standard to guarantee LD health and safety thorough common practices and regulations.

Material

Twelve partner from eleven European countries (Cyprus, , , Norway, , . , Slovenia, Spain, and UK) work cooperatively. Partners work in four different Working Groups to establish European Communication platform: Web: http://eulivingdonor.eu/

The Project is grant-aided by the European Commission through the The Public Health Executive Agency (April2007 – October2009).

Methods

WG1. Legal and ethical recommendations in relation to organ LD health and safety. WG2. Recommendations in relation to LD health and safety protection practices. WG3. A registry database model on organ LD. WG4. Dissemination of the European action framework and common standards on organ LD health, safety and protection among professionals, public opinion and general public. Results

Preliminary result on: - Evaluation of legislation regarding LD in European countries and recommendations on legislation. - Report on the potential risks for LD and recommendations for their protection.. - Common indicators agreed to create a common registry database - Evaluation of ethical concerns regarding LD

Discussion

The praxis and knowledge derived from organ LD cases are a first step to develop “lessons learned”. They could lead to best practices and to elaborate recommendations that help to establish a protection framework on organ LD health and safety: through laws and regulations in laboral, social, medical, psychological fields.

The consensus and elaboration of common registers are important improvement to be made in organ LD field. They will help to get to know the actual situation in Europe, to ameliorate policies and medical and social practices that are being developed.