The ethics of need-based and merit-based organ giving

The status quo is that people are given organs according to their needs; in other words, first come, first get. However, the Proposition has proposed that we change this into a merit-based system where the doctors consider the conditions of the patient and carry out the surgeries accordingly. Now, we must ask one question to ourselves: do doctors really have the right to analyze their patients’ history before carrying out surgeries? The opposition’s answer to this is a resounding “no.” What doctors do in this society is to help those that are in need of medical assistance. Simply rejecting a patient and his rights to receive medical care just because of what he has done in the past is an illogical stance to take. The Hypocratic Oath clarifies that doctors will “never do harm to anyone.” By having these doctors do nothing in face of a dying patient, the Proposition is essentially forcing these doctors to breach the most basic promise that he makes as a professional physician. (http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/hippocrates/) The proposition’s case of “merit-based” organ transplants is very troubling because it implies that the doctors will be asking several questions when allocating life-giving organs to patients. Before giving organs, under the proposition model, doctors will have to ask, “What’s the point of giving this man a new liver when he’s an alcohol addict who will probably relapse?” or “Does this man really deserve a liver when he’s brought this upon himself?” The core problem with this kind of approach is that it is fundamentally against the duty of those in the medical profession. Currently most medical professional swear to some kind of modern-day ethical guideline that has replaced the Hippocratic Oath; for instance, in the United Kingdom, doctors use the General Medical Council’s Guidance for Doctors, in which it says under article 25 that “Doctors must not allow their views about, for example, a patient's age, disability, race, colour, culture, beliefs, sexuality, gender, lifestyle, social or economic status to prejudice the choices of treatment offered or the general standard of care provided,”— in other words, the duty of a doctor is primarily to care for sick people, not to be splitting hairs about who is to blame (http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/current/library/witholding_lifeprolonging_guidance.asp#Non-discrimination ). They definitely do not retain the right to withhold or change treatment because of the patient’s prior lifestyle (and drinking is a lifestyle). While doctors may make scientifically based decisions, as in the status quo, and not go forth with treatment if he is absolutely sure that having a transplant will not help the patient at all and maybe cause death, he cannot have the right to withhold treatment simply because the patient made a bad life decision in the past, or because he thinks that the patient will never be able to recover from an addiction. The fundamental notion established under the Hippocratic Oath is that a doctor ought to help people in need. That is why we want a need-based system; we do not want to force people to have to prove that they deserve organs or deserve help, or that their lives are more valuable than others. When there is a dying man in need, we do not calculate whether he was to blame—we try to help them. Thus we want to retain the queue system we have; those who are in life-threatening situations and need help will get in line, and shall get help accordingly.