Shortage of kidney donors and the large number of patients with chronic renal failure leads to the search for new sources of transplantable organs. One of the ways is to use non-heart beating donors, NHBD. This type of donors accounted in medically advanced countries of western Europe and the USA for 20-40% of all kidney donors. In the Czech Republic this programme has not been developed so far. The department in Plzeò has been concerned with the preparation of this programme since 1998, so far in clinical experiments within the framework of valid legal standards. In addition to medical problems is in the foreground, in particular of NHBD group 2 and 3, the ethical problem associated with the termination of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in conditions medically insolvable as regards induction of spontaneous cardiac activity, respiration of function of the CNS. The authors reflect on this serious problem and discuss views held by some departments abroad. In the conclusion they emphasize the unconditional necessity of primary efforts to save the patient’s life by all available medical means. The doctor must never be led by the idea of irreversibility of the process with the objective or organ collection for transplantation.

        Key words: shortage of donors - non-heart beating donor - ethics