Ethics and Transplants

Ethics and Transplants:

A transplant is taking an organ from one person (a donor) and put into another person to replace an organ that no longer functions properly. 

There aren't enough donor organs so 1000's of people die. Doctors must decide who has first priority.
They follow a scientific criteria. It included whether the patient and donor:

• Have similar tissues - the closer the match the more likely the transplant is to be successful.
• Are similar ages - a child's organ wouldn't be successful in an adult.
• Are geographically close - the quicker it's transplanted it's more likely to be successful.
• How ill the patient is - a very ill patient is less likely to survive then a healthier one.

Some hospitals don't give liver transplants to patients who abuse alcohol unless they stay off alcohol for six months outside of hospital.

Being clinically obese can damage the heart. Some hospitals won't perform heart transplants on them unless they stick to a weight loss diet.

An ethical decision use ethical criteria to reach an answer that most people think is right/fair. Sometimes they're hard to make as different people have different standards by which they judge what is right or wrong.


Key Words:

Transplant
Donor
Criteria
Clinically obese
Ethical Decision 

Questions:

1. Why must doctors choose who gets a transplant?
2. How might ethical decisions for liver transplants differ from hospital to hospital?
3. How do you think health services should decide who gets organ transplants?

What you Should Know:

The ethics of organ transplants, including:
a. Liver transplants for alcoholics
b. Heart transplants for the clinically obese
c. The supply of organs