It has become a daily ritual that the topic of organ transplantation shows up in the media. Whether it’s the falsely named organ donation scandal (it does not concern organ donation, but rather patient selection and procurement), the surveys on the Germans’ willingness to donate (everyone approves it, but few actually possess a donor card), or personal stories about happy parents and their terminally ill children whose lives were saved because they received new lungs or a new heart—the touching story of recipient and donor. There are no TV-series, no mystery series, no talk shows that, although in different forms, do not take advantage of the striking drama that these people, who are confronted with life-or-death situations, undergo, as well as the alleged potential temptations that doctors may experience.

What is happening here? Why does this subject matter receive so much attention given that only 1046 transplants took place in 2012? As a comparison, there are approximately 140,000 men and women annually that receive a knee implant. Is this tiny surgical field really curatively significant enough or lucrative enough to make it sufficiently fascinating for the general public to generate attention, criticism, and slight feelings of horror? Consequently, this specialized and highly invasive sector of modern medicine is trivialized through unrelenting bluntness and the inclusion of all-too-human frivolity to ornament the headlines of the local news. Supposedly, with the intention of cleansing one’s archaic fear? As purgatory for something that many people still, after all this time, consider to be the devil’s work? It might even be in the physicians’ interest, and may perhaps be sponsored by the respective foundations, whose cry for more donor organs continues to become louder and that let politicians and health insurance providers publicly advertise for it? Are the good Samaritan image and the money saved the rewards? Yet, for many years, they have all ignored the urgent necessity for transparency . There are far too many questions that still need to be answered before adequate trust can be restored in transplantation medicine.

Who gives the government the right to claim organ donations from its citizens, to proclaim a social responsibility for organs? Does something have to be done more frequently just because it is possible to do it? Even the Churches are relatively clear on that and require organ donations. However, they should ask their believers whether organ donation is an imperative act of altruism . Love thy neighbor as yourself: If you love yourself, you should not feel carelessly obliged to care for others in that this type of gift can only be given—and accepted—completely voluntarily and after cautious consideration. This holds true for both living donations as well as post-mortem donations.