Although identical twin-to-twin skin grafting has resulted in excellent survival rates in burn patients, the nature and scope of ethical decision making in monozygotic sibling skin grafting needs further examination.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(6):537-545. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.6.cscm2-1806.
Eitan Neidich, Alon B. Neidich, David A. Axelrod, MD, and John P. Roberts, MD
Geographic disparities in availability of organs for transplant have spawned for-profit companies that help patients get on waitlists in more than one region and arrange travel for them if an organ becomes available.
Katrina A. Bramstedt, PhD and Francis L. Delmonico, MD
Transplant centers cannot regulate how people establish relationships, but when a donor-recipient pair comes together through Internet solicitation, the center must assess the donor’s motivations carefully.
Aaron Wightman, MD, MA and Douglas Diekema, MD, MPH
In making decisions about allocating scarce organs, undocumented immigrant status should not be used as a proxy for the legitimate criterion of likelihood of success because uncertainty about future ability to pay or insurance coverage applies to almost everyone listed for transplant.
AMA J Ethics. 2015; 17(10):909-913. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.10.peer1-1510.
Efforts to meet the demand for organs have long had disproportionate effects on members of particular races, not only because of disparate levels of need for transplants but because of the way our donation system works.
We must try to understand why there is such certainty about poor prognosis in severe brain-injury cases, when in fact many patients recover, albeit to a level of function most of us would not desire.