Current ethical aspects of organ procurement and transplantation in North America

Organ transplantation has enjoyed continuing success in North America, with steadily increasing numbers of transplants and increasing graft survival rates. This success has stimulated strong demand for transplantation, and the number of patients waiting for transplants has grown much more rapidly than the number of available organs. As a result, patients must wait much longer to receive a transplant, and more patients die while waiting. In response to the increasing shortage of organs, various initiatives have been proposed to increase the number of available organs. This article reviews the moral dimensions of recent organ procurement initiatives. The article also reviews current and proposed US criteria for allocating transplant organs to waiting patients.