The history of the AMA's policy on anencephalic newborns as organ donors is a living example of what medical science can do sometimes conflicts with society's support or nonsupport of those possibilities.
A physician discusses the benefits of a Saturday clinic that is operated by Colorado medical students to serve working and unemployed homeless patients.
Sheldon Zink, PhD, Rachel Zeehandelaar, and Stacey Wertlieb, MBe
The benefits of the international presumed-consent policy are presented as a solution to the United States' current shortage of organs available for transplantation.
Alcoholics should not be subject to deprioritization on a liver transplant waiting list if the belief is held that alcoholism is a disease and not an issue of moral failure for which the patient should be blamed.
The genetic engineering of organ-donor animals to decrease the risk of human immune system rejection poses ethical and psychological challenges to the long-held boundary between humans and other animal species.
The implementation of breakthrough quality improvement initiatives has been successful in closing the gap between the number of organs that are available and the number of patients who need them.
Physicians should find a way to balance their responsibility to care for individual patients with their desire to serve as public policy advocates so that they do not become overwhelmed in handling both roles.