Bioethics in Context Case Studies
A Court Case Examines Whether a Man Can be Forced to Donate Bone Marrow

This case is based on McFall v. Shimp , 10 Pa. D. & C.3d 90 (1978). Statements from the Court's decision are in quotation marks. An edited version of the case is available here.

"Plaintiff, Robert McFall, suffers from a rare bone marrow disease and the prognosis for his survival is very dim, unless he receives a bone marrow transplant from a compatible donor. Finding a compatible donor is a very difficult task and limited to a selection among close relatives. After a search and certain tests, it has been determined that only defendant is suitable as a donor. Defendant refuses to submit to the necessary transplant, and before the court is a request for a preliminary injunction which seeks to compel defendant to submit to further tests, and, eventually, the bone marrow transplant."

This case is about forcing a person to donate in order to save the life of another. A guiding principle in ethics - one that has a good deal of support among many ethicists but is rejected by others - is that people do not have a moral obligation to help others who are in need unless doing so is of little personal cost or unless a person has a social role, such as a health-care professional or firefighter, that entails helping others.   In McFall, the defendant is not in a special role, except perhaps as a relative.

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