Delhi High Court has held that there is no complete prohibition on minor if he/she wants to donate an organ or tissue but in exceptional circumstances and in accordance with the rules.
In the present case, the father of the petitioner is suffering from liver disease and is on the advance stage of liver failure and is undergoing treatment in PSRI Hospital. The certificate of the doctor suggests that liver transplantation is required as soon as possible.
Now the present petition filed for seeking court’s direction to appropriate authority under section 13(1) of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994 for allowing liver transplantation and permitting the petitioner to donate her liver to her father as the petitioner is 17 years 10 months old and mentally capable of understanding the situation and having matured understanding.
And moreover, in a prevailing situation when the country is completely lockdown on account of COVID-19, it would be impossible to find a donor in the near future and the father of the petitioner requires immediate liver transplantation.
Further, the medical examination of a mother of the petitioner clearly suggested that the mother is not an appropriate donor and the petitioner is an appropriate donor as the blood group of the father and daughter is the same and there is a higher possibility of successful transplantation.
However, Petitioner’s mother’s representation obtaining permission for donation was pending before the concerned Authority, the Court adjourned the matter for a few hours to allow the Authority to decide one way or the other.
When the hearing recommenced, the counsel for the Delhi Government informed the Court that the Authority concerned had refused the representation on the ground that the Petitioner was a minor.
The court noted that the decision of the authority is based on the medical opinion of the expert. An expert opined that since the daughter is minor, the possibility of risk is there. Now the court stated that in exceptional circumstances minor can donate organs and further directions given to Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket to immediately form a committee of two senior doctors; one who is an expert in Liver Transplant to examine the case of the Petitioner and to verify if there could be any potential threat to the Petitioner in donating part of her liver to her father.