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The Ethics of Competition in Liver Transplantation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1999

DAVID C. THOMASMA ,
KENNETH C. MICETICH ,
JOHN BREMS  and
DAVID VAN THIEL
DAVID C. THOMASMA
Affiliation:
Medical Humanities Program at Loyola University Chicago Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois.
KENNETH C. MICETICH
Affiliation:
Institutional Review Board and the Medical Center Ethics Committee at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, Illinois.
JOHN BREMS
Affiliation:
Solid Organ Transplant Institute, and the Liver Transplant Program at Loyola University Chicago Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois.
DAVID VAN THIEL
Affiliation:
Liver Transplant Program at Loyola University Chicago Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois.
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Abstract

The behavior of people in the presence of scarce resources has long been a source of ethical concern and debate. Many of the responses, ranging from outright brutality and cheating on the one hand to altruism, nobility, and sacrifice on the other, were most recently demonstrated in the movie Titanic. It should come as no surprise, then, that rational efforts to allocate the very scarce life-saving resource of organs are sometimes circumvented by these natural human impulses and sheer human creativity. This is especially true when the organs in question are required for continued life and cannot be temporarily or permanently replaced by technology. Thus the focus of this paper will be on the competition for livers.

Type
SPECIAL SECTION: Organ Transplantation: Shaping Policy and Keeping Public Trust
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , July 1999 , pp. 321 - 329
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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