Healthcare Commentary

Allocating Donor Organs: The Long Standing Debate Concerning who Deserves the Chance to Live First

By Rachel Prince, YouthCare Connect 7/27/2026

The Significance of Organ Transplants

Organ transplantation is an essential part in multiple areas of medicine. It has the power to help patients and bring them back into society after suffering from life-threatening illnesses. As the practice gained more attention throughout the country, a shortage of organ donors began to occur, which created the question on who receives the organs needed first? Especially since these organs could solve a life or death situation.

The Beginnings of Transplantations

In the 1950’s, the first ever successful kidney transplant occurred, marking the new age in medicine. Organ transplants were a massive success in the medical world and took inspiration from various forms of mythology, stemming from different cultures. Later in the 1960s, transplants involved the pancreas, liver, and the heart. These surgeries were seen as incredible across the world, but multiple concerns were raised, like how safe these transplant procedures were. Overall, these transplants made a big change in medicine, even with issues with who deserves the organ first.

The Ethics Behind the Principles

Historically, hospitals would prioritize transplants on either patients who needed it the most based on their disease, the highest mortality risk if left untreated, or patients who spent the most time on the waiting list for a transplant. This gained more criticism by individuals by pointing out that those who come first for organ transplants usually have higher socioeconomic statuses, which messed with the principles which attempted to make organ transplants fair between individuals. As years passed, hospitals shifted their focus on the sickest patients first and allowed them to have organ transplants first. A clear answer to this debate has not yet been reached, as multiple different principles are being used, however, there is always a setback to these principles.

The Simple Fix to the Long Standing Debate

Even though it seems like any decision made on this issue finds its way to a problem, there is a fix that can be promised by combining multiple principles. Patients who need organ transplants should be given transplants based on if their body will be able to take surgery and if the organ will be able to function properly in their body, as well as medical urgency. This way, the patient is guaranteed survival if they have undergone transplant surgeries, which means that the organ has not gone to waste. Patients who are in urgent need of organs are then treated first since they have the highest priority.

The Future of Allocating Organs

Rather than patients creating conflicts and other individuals creating debates about the principles which are being followed, it’s better for hospitals to follow one universal principle, or possibly, multiple principles. A patient’s life is a hospital’s biggest priority, and it’s important that hospitals do all they can to honor that life and help patients as much as they can, despite any debates that occur.