Dringlichkeit, Erfolgsaussicht, Chancengleichheit : Grundlagen und Verteilungspraxis postmortal gespendeter Organe in Deutschland

One of the most important aspects in the treatment of patients with chronic or acute organ failure is the regulatory framework for allocating organs donated after death. The existing framework is transparent and fulfills the primary ethical requirements of fairness and equality of chances. The Continual Organ Transplantation Commission of the Federal Medical Council has been assigned to adapt the regulatory framework for organ allocation to the latest findings of scientific research. Thus, the regulations can be implemented by the contractually responsible organ allocation organization, Eurotransplant. Transplantation centers have to make sure that they can decide on an organ offer at any time with respect to organization and staff so that an accepted organ can be transplanted immediately and the ischemia phase minimized. Improvements of the precarious allocation situation will, however, only be possible, if the number of post-mortem donated organs can be increased significantly.