Improving Lung Donor Availability and Allocation—Without the Courts

Penn Medicine
Photo: Scott Halpern, MD, PhD, MBE, medical ethicist and assistant professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care at Penn Medicine.
Newswise â€" PHILADELPHIA--Emergency court decisions regarding the allocation of life-saving donor lungs have recently sparked widespread debate over current wait list and allocation policies. In the June 25 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, Scott Halpern, MD, PhD, MBE, medical ethicist and assistant professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the implications of such judicial activism and suggests several ways to improve the availability and allocation of transplantable organs.

In his commentary, Dr. Halpern suggests that judicial intervention for specific cases risks providing preferential treatment for some patients, or placing a higher value on some lives over others. Such intervention, Dr. Halpern said, can set a troubling precedent.

“I don’t think we should allow policies to be bent in favor of those who have the resources and connections to create the biggest media splash, or who have the quickest access to lawyers and judges,” Dr. Halpern said. “Even if policies are imperfect, the integrity of the system is completely undermined when judges make medical decisions, particularly when they do so without considering the medical facts as happened in the Philadelphia cases.”
______________________________________________________ 
"You have the power to SAVE lives." 
To register as a donor in California: 
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 
Outside California: 
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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