Xenotransplantation and the Identity of the Recipient

10. In addition to considerations of a theological nature, and perhaps even before these are made, an ethical evaluation of the practice of xenotransplantation must be measured against current anthropological findings, especially that branch of philosophical anthropology that deals with personal identity. (⁵⁹)Any ethical appraisal of xenotransplantation must ultimately address the question of whether the "introduction of a foreign organ into the human body modifies a person's identity and the rich meaning of the human body?" And if the answer is affirmative, one must ask up to what point is such modification acceptable.

Certainly, the concept of "personal identity" is replete with implications and subtleties of meaning, given the different contributions of philosophy and science.(⁶⁰) More concisely, in keeping with the scope of this document, we can indicate personal identity as the relation of an individual's unrepeatability and essential core to his being a person (ontological level) and feeling that he is a person (psychological level). These characteristics are expressed in the person's historical dimension and, in particular, in his communicative structure, which is always mediated by his corporeality.

It must be affirmed, then, that personal identity constitutes a good of the person, an intrinsic quality of his very being, and thus a moral value upon which to base the right and duty to promote and defend the integrity of the personal identity of every individual.

We can therefore conclude that, in general, the implantation of a foreign organ into a human body finds an ethical limit in the degree of change that it may entail in the identity of the person who receives it.