POLL of the DAY (55): IN A PICKLE OVER LIVER TRANSPLANTS?

23 Feb 2015 29 Respondents

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Amanda Lees

AUT Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences

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POLL of the DAY (55): IN A PICKLE OVER LIVER TRANSPLANTS?

Under a controversial new scheme in the UK, patients with severe, alcohol-related liver disease will be eligible for immediate liver transplants for the first time. But the plan has already met with protest. In Britain, livers are a precious resource and, with liver disease on the rise, there aren't enough to go round. Some critics argue that those patients who abuse their bodies with alcohol should be lower down the priority list.

The question of whether alcohol-abusers 'deserve' liver transplants has aroused debate since the procedure was first performed, in the 1960s.

Many people see alcohol related liver disease as self-inflicted, and they're concerned that patients might neglect their bodies after their treatment, or sink back into alcoholism.

Until recently. alcohol abusers were denied liver transplants on those grounds, but now, most programmes will allow the procedure for those patients who can prove they've been abstinent from alcohol for six months. But patients with severe, acute alcoholic hepatitis have little-to-no chance of surviving the six-month period. Only 30 percent of this group will live for that long, so early liver transplantation is an attractive option.

Dr Daniel Sokol, a specialist in medical ethics and a lawyer, says that 'Morally speaking it’s very dangerous to make value judgements about who is worthy or unworthy of benefiting from a medical advance. Lots of diseases are self-inflicted and within that category there are different degrees of blameworthiness. Were you abused as a child? What triggered that behaviour? People would have very different moral value judgements.'

The move comes amid mounting concern over a rise in deaths from alcohol-related liver disease in Britain. The Office for National Statistics revealed that deaths from these diseases had gone up by 18% over the last ten years.

Just over 700 liver transplants were carried out in Britain in 2012 - compared to 900 in 2013.

Roger Goss is co-director of Patient Concern. He thinks the NHS is constantly producing contradictory stories.

'What’s the point of telling people to stop over-drinking and over-eating if you tell people, well if you do, don’t worry we’ll provide a replacement liver! The core problem is the NHS is desperately short of money and it’s struggling to find ways to save – so there’s not much point in coming up with more ways of spending money.'

Read the article in full here: http://uk.sputniknews.com/voiceofrussia/news/2014_04_07/Liver-transplants-for-heavy-drinkers-scheme-sparks-ethical-debate-2768/

With a scare supply of organs how should allocation take place? Do some people deserve an organ more than others? What do you think?

Image source

It is proposed that patients with severe alcohol-related liver disease should be eligible for immediate liver transplants

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