A Revised Consent Model for the Transplantation of Face and Upper Limbs: Covenant Consent

James Benedict is a scholar who holds four advanced degrees, including two doctorates, the most recent being a Ph.D. in Health Care Ethics from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He co-authored a Bioethics Report on Informed Consent for Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation for the United States Department of Defense in 2013. He has also authored multiple units of health care ethics training material currently in use at health care institutions in Pennsylvania and Maryland. He has served as a clergyman in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland, authored several scholarly and popular articles, adult education curriculum in theology and biblical studies, and contributed chapters to books on liturgy and church history. His current research interests include all aspects of transplantation ethics, from acquisition and allocation of organs and tissues to authorization of donation and consent to receiving tissues and organs and tissues. James is married, a father of three and a grandfather of four.

This book supports the emerging field of vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) for face and upper-limb transplants by providing a revised, ethically appropriate consent model which takes into account what is actually required of facial and upper extremity transplant recipients. In place of consent as permission-giving, waiver, or autonomous authorization (the standard approaches), this book imagines consent as an ongoing mutual commitment, i.e. as covenant consent. The covenant consent model highlights the need for a durable personal relationship between the patient/subject and the care provider/researcher. Such a relationship is crucial given the recovery period of 5 years or more for VCA recipients. The case for covenant consent is made by first examining the field of vascularized composite allotransplantation, the history and present understandings of consent in health care, and the history and use of the covenant concept from its origins through its applications to health care ethics today. This book explains how standard approaches to consent are inadequate in light of the particular features of facial and upper limb transplantation. In contrast, use of the covenant concept creates a consent model that is more appropriate ethically for these very complex surgeries and long-term recoveries.

Explains how standard approaches to consent are inadequate in light of the particular features of facial and upper limb transplantation

Introduction.- Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation.- The Ethics of Consent.- The Meaning of Covenant.- Covenant Consent.- Conclusion.