In the News: Transplant rules changing

Proposed Kidney Transplant Rules Favor Younger, Healthier Recipients
Kidney transplants would be given preferentially to younger, healthier patients, under rules being considered by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), according to the Washington Post.
Current rules favor recipients who have been on waiting lists longest, but the shift is an attempt "to get the most out of a scarce resource," according to Dr. Kenneth Andreoni, the chair of the UNOS committee considering the changes, as quoted in the Post.
Bioethicist Arthur Caplan, also quoted in the article, says that the change has implications for other areas of medicine: "This is moving it away from a save-the-sickest strategy to trying to get a greater yield in terms of years of life saved."
UNOS has circulated a document describing the proposal and is seeking comments. We link to it below.
Washington Post article (Free)