PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - T M Wilkinson TI - What’s not wrong with conditional organ donation? AID - 10.1136/jme.29.3.163 DP - 2003 Jun 01 TA - Journal of Medical Ethics PG - 163--164 VI - 29 IP - 3 4099 - http://jme.bmj.com/content/29/3/163.short 4100 - http://jme.bmj.com/content/29/3/163.full SO - J Med Ethics2003 Jun 01; 29 AB - In a well known British case, the relatives of a dead man consented to the use of his organs for transplant on the condition that they were transplanted only into white people. The British government condemned the acceptance of racist offers and the panel they set up to report on the case condemned all conditional offers of donation. The panel appealed to a principle of altruism and meeting the greatest need. This paper criticises their reasoning. The panel’s argument does not show that conditional donation is always wrong and anyway overlooks a crucial distinction between making an offer and accepting it. But even the most charitable reinterpretation of the panel’s argument does not reject selective acceptance of conditional offers. The panel’s reasoning has no merit.