Organ Transplant Interview Question

[Xenoblade]

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I did a quick search, and I didn't come up with anything relevant.

How do I answer questions regarding US organ transplants where the people on waiting lists:

1. Differ by age (one being 25 vs the other being 55+)
2. Currently has a drug problem
3. Is a recovering drug addict (i.e. allegedly been sober for x amount of years)
4. Has a chronic disease (like HIV or hepatitis)
5. has a terminal illness unrelated to the failing organ
6. Is obese
7. Has a criminal record or is currently incarcerated
8. Has a mental illness (like downs syndrome, schizophrenia, bi polar)
9. Has had a transplant before but that transplanted organ is failing and needs to be replaced

Essentially, the question is how are these transplant lists organized? Is it based on age, severity of sickness, geographic location, or etc.? What disqualifies people?

Who gets better quality organs? Like organs from young adults versus organs from individuals who are 55+. Do organs from the 55+ age

Is using age to rank people qualify as age discrimination, and thus illegal?

Thanks in advance.

 

[OneDayDoctor]

It really depends on the organ from what I understand. Some of my best reading came from looking at lung transplants (do some searches on this). For example, the lung allocation score seems to be a really unbiased way of determining who needs it. Things considered tend to include: Who will benefit most/likely to survive? Are they in a nearby location (should be done in <8 hours)? Who has the greatest severity? It is not illegal to use age in a certain sense. For instance, young children will not have access to adult lungs until any potential adult recipient has passed on it. This comes down to an issue of resizing. However, recent events have created a policy where individuals may appeal to be added to the adult list, and that request may or may not be granted. Bottom line: lungs are going to give you a great idea of current transplant policy, from my experience.

 

[masaraksh]

This came up on an interview?! Wow.

I feel like no applicant can prepare for all the possible ethics questions you may encounter. I'm sure that as long as you can discuss the issue with reasonable intellect and not say something stupid like "I just want to be a dermatologist", then you'll be fine.

If you want a primer on ethics and learn some jargon so that you can sound more impressive when discussing these issues pick up a book like http://www.amazon.com/Doing-Right-P...id=1394822573&sr=8-16&keywords=medical+ethics and call it a day.