Who gets first priority over organs?

Answer 1

Children should be put first on the list because they have a potential of living longer than a 30 year old for example if the child was 3 on average they would have a another 67 years to love where as the 30 year old only had 40. they should also be put first because they deserve a chance in life and i feel that the 30 year old in my earlier example has had 30 years of life already and the child has only had 3.

Although the "potential of living longer" argument is true in a basic sense, the vast majority of transplanted organs fail before 15 years are up, so the concept of either the 3 year old or the 40 year old living until 70 (without retransplant) is invalid.

Answer 2

One of the main considerations in putting a "heavier weighting" for children on the software which matches donors to recipients is that if you have a child and an adult both with the same sort of organ failure, the child's health is likely to be less "stable" even when in the same stage of illness.

For example, when an adult feels really ill, they are normally able to talk about symptoms and appropriately seek medical help. However when a child is very ill it is not always possible to tell until later stages, since they are not always to articulate that they feel unwell; seeking medical help can be more urgent and can necessitate greater interventions.

It is also worth considering that young children generally have fewer "reserves" (e.g proportionally less fat and nutrient stores) and weaker immune systems than adults, meaning an adult can generally survive being ill longer than a child can.

Another reason to consider is that any sort of organ failure in a child is likely to stunt their growth and development, along with making things such as schooling very difficult. For them, the impact of being ill determines much of their future life, compared to an adult. Sometimes it can be a case of years rather than months when waiting for a transplant, which can take up much of the time when a young person is meant to be developing/learning/playing.

Perhaps another reason to consider is that, for heart transplants at least, there are very few organs available which will fit a small child, so when they do come along it makes sense to make sure a child gets them, as opposed to a "small adult" who could probably fit something a little bigger. In this instance, giving children a greater weighting on matching software just evens out a slight injustice in supply of organs, rather than giving children a significant advantage.

Answer 3

Typically, priority goes to the patient that (a) will die without the new organ and (b) has the highest chance of ongoing survival.

Answer 4

Out of the waiting list, it is narrowed down to the people who are the "correct match" (size, tissue type, blood type etc...) then it's the most ill of those people who then gets the organ.