Ethical Criteria in the Allocation of Organs for Transplants

In the field of organ transplantation (especially the kidney one) one can notice a gradually bigger discrepancy between the number of patients with chronic kidney failure who are registered on the waiting lists and the number of available grafts, things that reveal a gradual rise of the renal diseases’ prevalence together with a greater life expectancy and greater flexibility of the criteria that the candidates have to meet in order to be officially registered onto the waiting list (the age limit and the presence of associated chronic illnesses) while the number of donors remains relatively constant. There are usually two philosophical visions which compete which seem contradictory, at first, (utilitarianism and egalitarianism). National and international policies for the allocation of organs for transplants try to find a balance between the two ethical principles, elaborating standardized and socially accepted programmes and procedures.