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Ethicists debate girl's second lung transplant
There is a current ethical dilemma that has been all over the news the past couple months. It involves a 10 year old little girl, Sarah Murnaghan, needing a lung transplant and the controversy that surrounds her because Sarah’s parents sued to get her on a transplant list for an adult set of lungs. Currently children are considered only for child-sized lungs and are not put on the transplant for adult lungs. The family was denied eligibility for adult lungs when U.S Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius declined to intervene in these types of cases, so it was sent to a federal judge who ruled she could be eligible for the adult lungs.
So many have questioned why these patients are not being able to receive the organs if they are available and if they will function properly and ultimately save someone’s life. The age shouldn’t matter. Then on the other hand there are the people against it who say there just aren’t enough organs to go around, lungs are rare and not as readily available like other organs are. Also there are ethical questions to giving someone a lung transplant knowing it will ultimately not help the patient live that much longer. Also when is it a good time to get the courts involved? Some pediatricians argue that they should never be involved, but for the Murnaghan family, they were willing to do just about anything to save their daughter’s life. As an outsider it is hard to judge anyone involved, because there should be medical standards and rules to be followed but to what extent? As a mother I know I would fight for my child to the end, and try anything and get anyone involved who could help. Also on the medical side, they can’t change the rules for some patients and not others. In this case the Murnaghan family got the courts involved, and in the end Sarah was able to have the transplant and sadly those lungs failed and she ended up having to have a 2nd transplant which is a whole other dilemma in itself.
As a social worker, this situation would be tough to handle. There are so many emotions and feelings that are involved and the end result could possibly be the death of the child. According to the NASW code of ethics (1.01) I have a commitment to the clients. It is my responsibility to promote the well being of clients and the client’s interests are primary. So I would have to think about their well being and not focus on my emotions or my personal opinions on such a case. Social workers also have values and ethical principles that professionals aspire such as service, social justice, integrity and dignity and worth of the person. All of these values would be relevant to me as a social worker on this case.
References
National Association of Social Workers. (2008). NASW code of ethics. Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://ww.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp.
Szabo, L. (2013, July 1). Ethicists debate girl’s second lung transplant. USA Today. Retrieved from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/01/girls-second-lung-transplant/2477699/
Ethicists debate girl's second lung transplant
There is a current ethical dilemma that has been all over the news the past couple months. It involves a 10 year old little girl, Sarah Murnaghan, needing a lung transplant and the controversy that surrounds her because Sarah’s parents sued to get her on a transplant list for an adult set of lungs. Currently children are considered only for child-sized lungs and are not put on the transplant for adult lungs. The family was denied eligibility for adult lungs when U.S Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius declined to intervene in these types of cases, so it was sent to a federal judge who ruled she could be eligible for the adult lungs.
So many have questioned why these patients are not being able to receive the organs if they are available and if they will function properly and ultimately save someone’s life. The age shouldn’t matter. Then on the other hand there are the people against it who say there just aren’t enough organs to go around, lungs are rare and not as readily available like other organs are. Also there are ethical questions to giving someone a lung transplant knowing it will ultimately not help the patient live that much longer. Also when is it a good time to get the courts involved? Some pediatricians argue that they should never be involved, but for the Murnaghan family, they were willing to do just about anything to save their daughter’s life. As an outsider it is hard to judge anyone involved, because there should be medical standards and rules to be followed but to what extent? As a mother I know I would fight for my child to the end, and try anything and get anyone involved who could help. Also on the medical side, they can’t change the rules for some patients and not others. In this case the Murnaghan family got the courts involved, and in the end Sarah was able to have the transplant and sadly those lungs failed and she ended up having to have a 2nd transplant which is a whole other dilemma in itself.
As a social worker, this situation would be tough to handle. There are so many emotions and feelings that are involved and the end result could possibly be the death of the child. According to the NASW code of ethics (1.01) I have a commitment to the clients. It is my responsibility to promote the well being of clients and the client’s interests are primary. So I would have to think about their well being and not focus on my emotions or my personal opinions on such a case. Social workers also have values and ethical principles that professionals aspire such as service, social justice, integrity and dignity and worth of the person. All of these values would be relevant to me as a social worker on this case.
References
National Association of Social Workers. (2008). NASW code of ethics. Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://ww.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp.
Szabo, L. (2013, July 1). Ethicists debate girl’s second lung transplant. USA Today. Retrieved from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/01/girls-second-lung-transplant/2477699/
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