The Denial of Liver Transplants to Alcoholics

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the criteria used to determine who may receive a liver transplant and, in particular, whether alcoholics should be allotted livers for transplant. Alcoholics tend to be given low priority status on liver transplant waiting lists or are even taken off such lists because they are considered responsible for their organ's diseased condition. The paper questions whether the denial of transplants based on this moral criteria is justified. It concludes by arguing that alcoholics should be given the same priority level as non-alcoholics on the same transplant waiting lists.

From the Paper:

"Deciding who should receive organs is not based solely on medical need, but also on moral criteria. Initially, patients must display a genuine medical need for a new organ, meaning that they will indeed die unless they receive a transplant. Then they are eligible to be placed on a waiting list. Patients on the list are then chosen one-by-one as organs become available (Kilner 5). However, it is most certainly always the case that the available organ could potentially be given to more than one person on the list. In this situation, a single recipient must be chosen. A team of physicians and a psychologist determine which patient will be given a new chance at life through the transplantation of a new organ ... but how exactly do they decide?"

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cohen, Carl et al. Alcoholics and Liver Transplantation. Munson, Ronald. Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Medical Ethics. 8th ed. University of Missouri: St. Louis, 2008. pp. 479-483.
• Collins, Charlotte A. and Susan M. Labott. Psychological Assessment of Candidates for Solid Organ Transplantation. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 2007. Vol. 38, No. 2. pp. 150-157.
• Forbes, Steve. Unnecessary Deaths. Forbes. 13 Aug. 2007. Vol. 180. Issue 3. pp. 21-22.
• Kilner, John F. Who Lives? Who Dies? Ethical Criteria in Patient Selection. Yale University Press: New Haven, 1990.
• McMahan, Jeff. Justice and liability in organ allocation. Social Research Spring 2007.

More papers on The Denial of Liver Transplants to Alcoholics:

• Essay # 44413 : "The Denial of Saint Peter"
• Essay # 17240 : "Ernes Becker's "The Denial Of Death"
• Analytical Essay # 53811 : "Modernist Literature and the Denial of History"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: