Response to “A Critique of UNOS Liver Allocation Policy” by Kenneth Einar Himma (CQ Vol 8, No 3)

Abstract

The critique of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) liver allocation policy by Kenneth Himma has flaws related to the complexities and evolutionary nature of the field. Recent improvements in transplantation have achieved national attention of this sort. There has been an evolution, unequaled elsewhere in medicine, of a national data set and national rules. The transplant community might have been more effective in communicating the details of this, and the problems associated with organ allocation policy. The novelty and complexity of the new rules understandably can produce misleading conclusions.