Should Living Donors Be Allowed To Say Who Gets Their Kidneys?

Main Category: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 02 Aug 2006 - 13:00 PDT

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Organs donated by altruistic strangers (people who do not know the recipient) "do not go necessarily to patients who have the best immunologic match or the most urgent need or who have waited the longest" for a transplant, says a writer (Academia and Clinic, p. 197).

The writer calls for an organization to provide public education on the science and ethics of organ allocation. He says altruistic strangers who want to donate an organ should attend a "mandated education program before donation that encourages adherence to allocation guidelines, yet ultimately preserves their freedom of choice."

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Editorial Writer Discusses IOM Report on Organ Donation and How to Increase the Supply of Transplantable Organs

(Editorial, p. 224).

Tip sheet Annals of Internal Medicine, August, 2006

Contact: Susan Anderson
American College of Physicians

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