SELECTION OF RECIPIENTS FOR DONOR ORGANS IN TRANSPLANT MEDICINE

This paper deals with a problem which has received a great deal of att ention in the ethical literature, but about which very little is known empirically: the selection of recipients for organs in transplant med icine. Based on a larger study, it is shown how this problem is practi cally resolved in one European country, Germany. It is demonstrated th at most of the criteria used to determine recipients are non-medical i n nature, even though they generally tend to be rationalized in medica l terms. Moreover, the choice of criteria depends as much on prognosti c considerations as on personal indiosyncrasies and values held by ind ividual physicians who are in charge at the various programs. Several examples of the extremely diverse policies in which this results are p resented.