The Bioethics of Denying Patients Organ Transplants

The Takeaway

Three-year-old Amelia Rivera  has a rare genetic disease called Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome. She suffers from mental impairment, epileptic-like seizures, and she can’t walk or talk. Besides her illness she’s in desperate need of a kidney transplant to live to see her fourth birthday. But the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where Amelia is treated, told Amelia’s family that they would not perform a transplant even if a family member donates a kidney. The reason, according to her mother’s blog, is because she is “mentally retarded.” Dr. Art Caplan is a professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, who is familiar with the ethical questions surrounding transplant cases.

Invest in independent global news

The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!