Since medical doctors have been empowered to decide when to remove organs from living persons Section 51 of the Act constitutes an infringement of the rights of citizens to life, dignity of their persons as well as the rights to privacy and freedom of thought, conscience and religion guaranteed by Section 33, 34, 37 and 38 of the Constitution. In Medical and Dental Practitioner Disciplinary Tribunal v. Okonkwo (2001) WRN 1 the Supreme Court held that a patient has the constitutional right to reject a life-serving treatment on religious n grounds. In the leading judgment of the apex court Justice Emmanuel Ayoola held inter alia: “The patient’s constitutional right to object to medical treatment or, particularly, as in this case, to blood transfusion on religious grounds is founded on fundamental rights protected by the 1979 Constitution…The right to privacy implies a right to protect one’s thought, conscience or religious belief and practice from coercive and unjustified intrusion; and, one’s body from unauthorized invasion. The right to freedom of thought, conscience or religion implies a right not to be prevented, without lawful justification, from choosing the course of one’s life, fashioned on what one believes in, and a right not to be coerced into acting contrary to religious belief. The limits of these freedoms, as in all cases, are where they impinge on the rights of others or where they put the welfare of society or public health in jeopardy.” It is pertinent to point out that it is the medical doctor or manager of a hospital and not the donor who has the power to authorize that an organ be removed from a living Nigerian citizen. The definition of “organ” in the law includes kidney, liver, heart, lens, ovarian eggs, sperm . The proponents of the law are likely to refer to section 48 thereof which provides for the “informed consent” of a donor. But such consent “may be waived for medical investigations and treatment in emergency cases”. As far as the fundamental right of a Nigerian to dignity is concerned there can be no waiver of consent under any medical condition. Even where a patient is unconscious or incapable to give informed consent the power is transferred to a next-of-kin or parents in the case of children. Since the consent clause may be waived for “medical investigation and treatment in emergency cases” it does appear that medical practitioners and hospitals have been licensed to remove tissues and organs of living Nigerian citizens as any medical condition may be considered an emergency. By denying patients the right to give consent or authorize the removal of vital organs from their bodies the National Assembly has empowered doctors to subject Nigerians to degrading and inhuman treatment. In other words, Section 51 of the Act constitutes an egregious assault on the humanity of Nigerians. The provision of the law cannot be allowed to be implemented in any civilized society.Therefore, the National Assembly should expunge it from the law without any delay.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 09:18:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015