Organ allocation: a case for not transplanting the violent criminal

Abstract

As organ transplantation outcomes become ever more successful, vigilance as to appropriate recipient selection must be ensured, for without careful monitoring the already great disparity between organ supply and demand will continue to grow. There is a public perception that justice requires equal access to treatment for all, but this is not always the case. We suggest that, while violent felons do not account for a large number of transplant recipients, transplanting even one such individual should be deemed inadvisable-and could well be fraught with irreparable public repercussions.