4 ms·

Shouldn't give liver transplants to alcoholics, or heart transplants to people who eat fast food, or any medical care to smokers.

• Arnt 5y ago
  That's sort of how it works. They sort the people who need a new liver by chance of surviving the operation, expected years to live, etc. Some alcoholic who's already worn out one liver won't score very high on that, so there'll be other people who rank higher. And then everyone waits. If that area then has a few weekends with many horrible traffic accidents, even the alcoholic might get a liver. But generally there are too few healthy organs and too many people waiting for them, and that alcoholic waits in vain.
• rsynnott 5y ago
  ... I mean, they _don't_ give liver transplants to alcoholics, generally. Lifestyle is a big factor in most places in figuring out who gets a transplant. > or any medical care to smokers. Normal medical care generally works on a completely different heuristic. If there's one ICU bed, and a car crash victim, a smoker, and an unvaccinated covid case needing one, then whoever out of the three has the greatest need and will benefit most gets the bed (ie. _blame_ doesn't come into it). For transplants, they look at possibility of long-term success, and lifestyle problems _are_ a factor there.