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Intellectual disability impedes decision-making in organ transplantation

Current Psychiatry. 2016 February;15(2):e1-e3
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The committee’s decision was aided by the rationale that dialysis is readily available and is a sustainable alternative to transplantation.


Mr. B’s case raises an ethical question

We speculate what the team’s decision about transplantation would have been if Mr. B (1) had a living donor or (2) was being considered for a heart, lung, or liver transplant—for which there is no analogous procedure to dialysis to sustain the patient.


Disclosures
The authors report no financial relationships with any company whose products are mentioned in this article or with manufacturers of competing products.


Suggested Reading

  • Baqi N, Tejani A, Sullivan EK. Renal transplantation in Down syndrome: a report of the North American Pediatric Renal Transplant Cooperative Study. Pediatr Transplant. 1998;2(3):211-215.
  • Benedetti E, Asolati M, Dunn T, et al. Kidney transplantation in recipients with mental retardation: clinical results in a single-center experience. Am J Kidney Dis. 1998;31(3):509-512.