Organ Transplantation
Which of the three organ systems is the best?
Background Information
Convicted felons are allowed to get on the waiting list for an organ, which could potentially increase the chance that someone further down the list will die due to lack of that organ in place of a criminal.
Scientist are trying to find a way to make artificial organs that can perform the same functions as well, if not better, than a real human organ.
Moving people who are very ill to a higher spot on the waiting list might minimize death, but treating people before they are very ill will maximize life span.
Children are medically disadvantaged. They cannot grow and repair properly without a well functioning kidney, so they should be moved higher on the list.
The Three Systems
The Therapeutic System of Allocating Organs
This system of allocating organs chooses the people who's life expectancy is shorter than the other patients and are closer to death.
Pros: This could decrease the amount of deaths because we are helping the people who need medical help the most and we could save more lives that way.
Cons: These patients are less likely to survive during and after the surgery because their body, being so close to death, is too weak to fight off infections and might not heal as quickly or a efficiently.
We could potentially be eliminating the chances of someone in better health who needs a transplant to get one and who have the immune system to fight off infections and will heal quicker and more efficiently.
This could possibly be a waste of our resources, like nurses and doctors that could be helping heathier patients getting better, and also our medicines that could go towards other patients.
The Utilitrian System of Allocating Organs
This system of allocating organs chooses the patient who has the highest chance of living during and after a transplant.
Pros: More people are most likely to survive because we would be giving the organs to the people who are most likely to live during and after the transplant.
People will have a higher chance of survival, and the amount of deaths due to the lack of a heathy organ will most likely decrease.
We would use less of our resources, like nurses, doctors, and medicines, because the people would be able to heal faster and more efficiently than a very ill person.
Cons: The sickest people will die because they won't have the organ that their body needs and they might die.
The Casual System of Allocating Organs
In this system, every one is equal. The people who need a transplant are picked at random.
Pros: Everyone has an equal chance of being chosen to get an organ.
Cons: The people who need the organ the most don't even have an advantage in the choosing.
The medical resources that are available could be wasted on very ill people that have a high chance of not surviving a surgery and might not be able to fight off infections.
The socially important people in need of an organ don't have an advantage in the choosing and that might cause dispute among others.
My Opinion
I believe that the Utilitarian system of allocating organs is the most reasonable way, and would the best. If we use this form of allocating organs, then more lives could possibly be saved. The doctors and nurses will be able to be more spread out and instead of working on just a few very ill patients, they could be working on many patients that are doing well because they weren't very ill before the transplant. Patients would heal much faster than if they were very ill and they would be able to fight of fatal infections that have a potential to occur. The only con to this system is that the very ill people would die due to the lack of a healthy organ. These are the reasons that I believe that the Utilitarian system of allocating organs is the best system to use.