Israeli donors get transplant priority

People who sign organ donation cards will be given priority when in need of a transplant themselves as part of new laws that come into play in Israel this month. It is hoped the law change will boost donation rates higher than its current 10% and help with organ donation shortages which have troubled the country for the past decade. Those with a donor card for at least three years will be given priority in organ allocation, and partners and close relatives of those with signed donor cards – whether deceased or alive - will also benefit from the scheme. Patients in urgent need of a heart, lung or liver transplant will still receive priority, but if two people are eligible for the same organ their priority status will now determine the recipient. The move has been scrutinized for treating patients based on non-medical criteria rather than their clinical need. Professor Jacob Lavee, Director from the Heart Transplantation Unit in Israel acknowledges the new policy violates principles of “true altruism” and “ideal care”, but said it does provide an “incentive for individuals to agree to help each other”. "If this policy results in the procurement of more organs for transplantation, then it promotes a different but nonetheless important goal of medicine - achievement of maximum health,” he wrote in The Lancet. The policy will be monitored for the next two years and a public information campaign is now underway to education the Israeli population on all changes. The Lancet 2009; published online before print...