Organ Transplantation and Ethical Considerations Essay -- Medicine Med

Organ transplant and Ethical ConsiderationsIn February 2003, 17-year-old Jesica Santillan received a heart-lung transplant at Duke University Hospital that went badly wonky because, by mistake, doctors used donor organs from a patient with a different blood type. The botched operation and subsequent unsuccessful retransplant candid a discussion in the media, in internet chat rooms, and in ethicists circles regarding how we, in the United States, allocate the scarce commodity of organs for transplant. How do we go about allocating a future for people who will blend without a transplant? How do we go about denying it? When so many an(prenominal) are waiting for their shot at a life deserving living, is it fair to grant multiple organs or multiple transplants to a person whose chance for survival is slim to none? And though we, as compassionate human beings, want to help everyone, how far should our benevolence deal beyond our borders? Are we responsible for seeing that the urge ncyy who come to the States for help receive their chance, or are we morally responsible to our knowledge citizens only? Rationing scarce resources presents an ethical challenge. I believe that since usable organs are so scarce, it is imperative that the utility of donated organs be maximized. In this paper, I suggest that organ allocation be grow in distributive justice, which demands that equals be toughened equally and unequals be treated unequally. I will explore this formal principle and the substantive criteria of equality, need and efficacy (maximum survivability) as they relate to the just allocation of organs for transplant. I will apply these principles of justice to Jsicas case to show that term her first transplant was warranted, her second was not. And, fin... ...ut Transplant Error, www.ormanager.com/tools/letter.pdfKher, Unmesh and Paul Cuadros, A Miracle Denied, clip Magazine, (March 3, 2003) 61.Kirkpatrick, C.D. and Jim Shamp, Was Second Transplant a Waste of Organs? (Herald-Sun, 3/2/03), www.herald-sun.com/archivesMunson, Ronald, Intervention and Reflection, 6 ed (Belmont Wadsworth/Thomson Learning,2000).Ubel, Peter A. Robert M. Arnold and Arthur L. Caplan, Rationing affliction The Ethical LessonsOf the Retransplantation of Scarce Vital Organs, reprinted in Arthur L. Caplan and Daniel H. Coelho, The Ethics of Organ Transplants, (Amhurst, NY Prometheus Books,1998), 260-73.Veatch, Robert M., Transplantation Ethics, (Washington, DC Georgetown UP, 2000), 277-413.Vedantam, Shankar, U.S. Citizens Get More Organs Than They Give, (Washington Post,3/3/03), www.washingtonpost.com/ac2