Are alcoholics less deserving of liver transplants?

Hastings Cent Rep. 2007 Jan-Feb;37(1):41-7. doi: 10.1353/hcr.2007.0001.

Abstract

When does behavior trigger a lesser claim to medical resources? When does chronic drinking, for example, mean that one has a lesser claim to a liver transplant? Only when one's behavior becomes a callous indifference to others' needs--when one knows the consequences of heavy drinking and knows that by drinking one may end up depriving someone else of a liver.

MeSH terms

  • Health Care Rationing / ethics*
  • Humans
  • Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / surgery*
  • Liver Transplantation / ethics*
  • Moral Obligations
  • Patient Selection / ethics*
  • Social Justice*
  • Social Responsibility*