RELIGST 2C03 Lecture 16: Lecture 16 - Resource Allocation (Nov 14)
11 Feb 2019
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Some considerations: of organs available for transplant, livers are among the most scarce, without transplanting a new liver, end stage liver disease (esld) will result in death, alcohol-related end stage liver disease (aresld) make up app. 50% of potential transplant recipients: because of the addictive nature of alcohol dependency, there is a high rate of recidivism in alcohol dependent patients post transplant, the addictive nature of alcohol dependency notwithstanding, treatment of the disease. Requires the patient to assume responsibility for participating in continuous treatment (392); i. e. prior to onset of aresld (see also p. 393) The moral argument: given the scarcity of resources, transplants should be made available first to esld patients according to their meld score, aresld patients can assume significant responsibility for their disease, whereas esld patients cannot assume any responsibility. It would seem that age should be a significant factor in determining which patient should receive care: but perhaps this depends on an ageist prejudice .
