FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Volume 353:441-444 August 4, 2005 Number 5 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text PDF PDA Full Text Purchase this article Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited E-mail When Letters Appear PubMed Citation

During the past half-century, organ donation has been fertile territory for both extraordinary compassion and complex ethical questions. As transplantation has become safer and outcomes have improved, the rules for donation and the fair allocation of organs have struggled to keep pace.

In 2004, there were about 27,000 solid-organ transplantations in the United States — nearly 1600 more than there had been in 2003. Yet the demand for organs remains far greater than the supply. As of July 2005, there were about 89,000 people on waiting lists. For the largest group — the 62,500 patients awaiting kidneys — the expectation . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

Dr. Steinbrook is a national correspondent for the Journal.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Brennan, T. (2007). Markets in Health Care: The Case of Renal Transplantation. J Law Med Ethics 35: 249-255  
• Hanto, D. W. (2007). Ethical Challenges Posed by the Solicitation of Deceased and Living Organ Donors. NEJM 356: 1062-1066 [Full Text]  
• Steinberg, D. (2006). The allocation of organs donated by altruistic strangers.. ANN INTERN MED 145: 197-203 [Abstract] [Full Text]