“If the distribution of organs becomes subject to the success of individual publicity campaigns, with organs going to those who hire the best PR firms and lawyers, who on the waiting list would remain confident that their priority would be decided on the merits?” Daniel Wikler, a medical ethics expert at Harvard, said in an email. “And who would agree to donate organs to a system supposedly based on rational, humane, and fair selection criteria but that would actually be determined by the assets of the highest bidder?”
He noted that if one person gets moved up on the list and others drop down, it must be justified…
“They made a major policy decision that really changed the entire allocation scheme,” Weill said, adding that that should not be done on an ad hoc basis. Although the underlying policy hasn’t been officially changed, the appeals process allows children to be prioritized by the same standards as adults, which they were not before. None of the three committees that reviewed the “under 12” policy at the transplant network concluded that there was scientific evidence to justify an emergency change.
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