Verified Document

Distributive Justice: Should Todd Krampitz Term Paper

While no one ought to begrudge Mickey Mantle (or anyone) a much-needed liver transplant, it remains hard to believe, given the speed at which Mickey Mantle received a liver and an operation that he was indeed placed on a list and then waited his turn like everyone else. Further, according to Koch (March 1996)Normative and prescriptive criteria: The efficacy of organ transplantation allocation protocols (March 1996):

well publicized cases have raised questions in North America about the efficacy of [donated organ] allocation procedures. An analysis of those cases, and the relevant technical literature, suggest consistent structural deficits exist in the organ allocation process as it is applied by many individual transplantation centres. These irregularities are based upon both the failure of rank waiting as a method to guarantee just treatment and a general failure to recognize the extent to which prescriptive criteria -- social values -- are commonly used to screen potential organ transplant candidates. Resulting idiosyncratic determinations, and a devaluation of rank waiting as a criterion, raise fundamental questions regarding justice, fairness, and equability in the application procedure at large.

In an ideal world (which ours, unfortunately, is very far from being), it might well seem unethical, immoral, and unjust for Todd Krampitz to have "cut ahead of others" on a waiting list for liver transplants. That same argument, however,...

On the other hand, as Koch (March 1996) points out many may be reticent to even become organ donors if they perceive the organ donation system to favor one type of person, or group, over another. Should the organ donation system now in place within the United States ever become truly fair, equitable, and above board, for rich, poor, white, black, famous, obscure, etc., we may at that point look back on Todd Krampitz's and his family's efforts to save Todd's life by "cutting ahead of others" as wrong. Until that happy day arrives, however, I, at least, will continue to believe that the efforts made by Todd, his family, and others on his behalf, to try to save his life, were not only entirely correct and justified, but laudable as well.
References

Koch, T. (March 1996). Normative and prescriptive criteria: The efficacy of organ transplantation allocation protocols. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics

Historical Archive),17(1). SpringerLink. 75-93. Retrieved July 31, 2005, at http://www.springerlink.com/app/home/contribution.asp?wasp=d059577 aa86c4a37b56a37e250fa9bdf&referrer=parent&backto=issue,7,8;journal,4,55;linkingpublicationresults,1:403004,1.html.

Man gets liver after using billboards, Net. (August 13, 2004). MSNBC.com.

Retrieved July 31, 2005, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5685485/html.

Sources used in this document:
References

Koch, T. (March 1996). Normative and prescriptive criteria: The efficacy of organ transplantation allocation protocols. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics

Historical Archive),17(1). SpringerLink. 75-93. Retrieved July 31, 2005, at http://www.springerlink.com/app/home/contribution.asp?wasp=d059577 aa86c4a37b56a37e250fa9bdf&referrer=parent&backto=issue,7,8;journal,4,55;linkingpublicationresults,1:403004,1.html.

Man gets liver after using billboards, Net. (August 13, 2004). MSNBC.com.

Retrieved July 31, 2005, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5685485/html.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Ethics Organ Transplants for All
Words: 2139 Length: 7 Document Type: Research Paper

In theory, such evaluations could be useful, but as is, they are fairly useless. Plus, the validity and necessity of evaluations are up for debate themselves, besides the actual results from the evaluations being up for debate. Thus, the bioethical dilemma in those who abuse their bodies before and after receiving organ transplants lies not necessarily just with the recipients, but also with society, and with the medical field with

Ethics and Organ Transplants
Words: 837 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Ethical Considerations Behind Organ Transplants The idea of organ transplants has suffered several criticisms over the years from the civil society, to the various religious groups and even philosophers. It is challenging to have one perspective on the idea of transplants and apply it universally since not everyone will share the religious view, or the philosophical view. In the context of this memorandum, the utilitarian philosophy will be the baseline for

Organ Transplantation Has Been Regarded
Words: 1392 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Paper

In the U.S. For instance, Abuona (2003) indicated that the very first criterion is the donor's geographic location as compared to that of the recipient followed by the histocompatibility matching and blood group compatibility. The third criterion is a point system that each of the waiting-list patients accumulate in regard to the following variables; waiting time, medical urgency, as well as the age of the patient. This allocation technique

Organ Transplantation Denying Mrs. Burgone the Organ
Words: 1697 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Organ Transplantation Denying Mrs. Burgone the organ transplant could be ethically justified under certain conditions and circumstances. However, denying her organ transplantation surgery under these circumstances is not one of those instances and cannot be ethically justified. The decision is arbitrary and serves no purpose for any stakeholders in the outcome of the issue. Moreover, the ethical justification purported to be at the heart of the decision is logically flawed and

Transplant Medicine the Major Histocompatibility Complex MHC
Words: 1052 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Transplant Medicine The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) contains over 128 functional genes. This is the densest part of the human genome and is responsible for most autoimmune diseases. This region also determines vaccine responsiveness, adverse drug reactions, disease progression and transplant rejection. The MHC genes are multigenic with a high degree of allelic polymorphism. There are over 7,500 different alleles and over 5,458 expressed MHC antigens currently known. (DeFranco, Locksley &

Organ Donating
Words: 1821 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Paper

Organ Donation Why Organ Donating is a Social Responsibility Life is a sentence. It begins with a capital letter, has something in between, and then a punctuation mark at the end. Organ donation allows part of our physical body to be of use to someone else for short time after we have passed. It is a beautiful gift to be able to make someone else's life a little longer. This gives them

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now