Ethical Aspects Of Organ Allocation

The medical practice of organ transplantation has grown by leaps and bounds over the last 50 years. Each year the medical profession takes more risk with decisions regarding transplants, how to allocate for organs, and most recently conducting transplants on children with adult organs. “An organ transplantation is a surgical operation where a failing or damaged organ in the human body is removed and replaced with a new one” (Caplan, 2009). Not all organs can be transplanted. The term “organ transplant” typically refers to transplants of solid organs: heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, and intestines. There are two ways of receiving an organ transplant: from a living human or an organ from a cadaver. Typically when receiving an organ from an living person; relatives are the first line of contact; but, that is not always the case. Spouses or close friends frequently donate organs to ailing loved ones. If a person does not have an available living donor or is ineligible for a living donation because of their predicted outcome, they are placed into a waiting pool for an organ from a cadaver by their transplant center. “The Untied Network for Organ Sharing, which is always called UNOS, is a private, non-profit institute that oversees the country’s organ transplant system under the agreement with the Federal Government” (UNOS, 2013). “In the Untied States there are 123,771 people waiting for a transplant” (UNOS, 2013), currently in 2014 that number could be higher. UNOS has an organ allocation process, which includes justice, and how organs are dispersed to their recipients. It does not mean giving all patients the equivalent or saving only the sickest patient, but, instead, offers that uniform respect and apprehension be assumed to all patients. Medical utility means accomplishing the greatest net medical good overall and making the finest use of limited resources to be allocated. For example, there are several