Abstract

This case is not about whether retransplant candidates should receive organs over first-time candidates, or whether risks of transplant failure from psychological or social factors are relevant to allocating organs. Rather, it concerns only this patient's qualifications to wait for a kidney transplant. Should the patient's prior transplants, noncompliance, and poor social network exclude her even from the waiting list? Do attending physicians inappropriately favor their patients over all others in need of transplants just by listing them? The answers turn on the difference between identifying a transplant need and allocating an organ