Should Organ Donations Be Rationed?

This past week basketball coach Charlie Spoonhour passed away. Spoon was a special person to UNLV and St. Louis University basketball fans. In fact, every place that he coached was special. He had a personality that people liked. This is not a sports article. However, Spoon plays an important part of this article in regards to organ transplants.

Should organ donations be regulated by health, age, financial status and need? Back in August of 2010, Spoon got a lung transplant at the Duke Medical Center. According to an article written by Bill McClellan of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins asked Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to help him get the transplant. Krzyzewski did just that it seems. A very admirable thing to do.

As McClellan states, Spoon wasn't poor. He could afford the transplant. The reason that he needed help was because of his age. So the factor of having enough money was not a problem. Was his health too poor that he needed intervention or was it because of his age (71)?

Some transplants can't be performed because of present physical health. That is easy to understand. Why do something that only prolongs the inevitable by a few weeks or months? It is not known what type of physical shape Spoon was in when he entered the hospital. However, when he passed he had lost 110 pounds.

Many transplants are just too tough for older people to make the adjustment following surgery. If that is the case, why should somebody be able to intervene? Let's go a step further. Who makes the final call? Is there a commission or a doctor that decides on a final life or death call? Maybe it is an arbitrary call by whoever is in charge.

My concern is if that decision is by preference. Let's be clear. We know that there is never enough transplant organs to go around. However, if organ donations are being rationed, should a non-smoker have preference over a smoker? Should age of an individual matter? Should a more fit person have an advantage over an obese person? Is there a financial factor? Is it who you know that helps?

Finally and most important of all. Who sets the criteria? An case example is that of Mickey Mantle. Back in 1995, Mantle needed a liver transplant. He got it in about 48 hours. Mantle was an alcoholic. He died three months later. That year 804 people died waiting for a transplant. Was there criteria for Mantle?

This issue has been raging for some time now. It doesn't appear to be going any place soon.

I want to thank Bill McClellan on calling our attention to this ongoing issue.
sources; Bill McClellan; Stltoday.com