Whether there is a legal requirement for a transplant patient to be informed prior to the operation of any risk associated with an organ as…

There is no legal requirement for a transplant patient to be informed of the risks with donated organs as a result of a donors health or lifestyle. Guidelines on this are provided in Guidelines for Consent for Solid Organ Transplantation, published in March 2011.
The guidelines are available at www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/pdf/guidelines_for_consent.pdf.
In the field of organ donation/transplantation each and every donor/recipient combination represents a balance of risk between the benefit of transplant and the risks associated with a particular organ and the transplant surgery. The decision to proceed with a transplant is ultimately down to the recipient and the transplant surgeon. A transplant surgeon and recipient may decide to go ahead with a procedure if they decide that the risk associated with potential transmission of infection or malignancy is outweighed by the risk of not being allocated an organ in time.