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You are members of the heart transplant surgery team at a university hospital in Washington, D.C. At the moment you have six patients who desperately need a transplant, if they are to have any chance of living. All six patients are classified as "critically ill," and could die at any time.

You have just received the news that the heart of a 16-year-old boy, who was killed in an auto accident, has become available for transplantation. Speed is extremely important as you decide which of the following patients is to receive the heart: not only might one of the patients die, but also the donor heart will soon begin to deteriorate.

Consider

1. The age and sex of the donor has no relationship to the age and sex of the recipient. In other words, the heart of the 16-year-old would work well in a 50-year-old woman.

2. Rank the patients in order 1-first to receive, 6-last to receive.

Decide

Patients:

1. Jonas Kasperak, male, age 55. Mr. Kasperak is employed as a steelworker. He and his 47-year-old unemployed wife have seven children (ages 8-22).

Reasons he should receive the heart:

Reasons he should not receive the heart:

Conclusion of heart transplant team:

2. Elena Rodriguez, female, age 31. Ms. Rodriguez sings first soprano in the Washington Metropolitan Opera. She is divorced and has two children (ages 2 and 3).

Reasons she should receive the heart:

Reasons she should not receive the heart:

Conclusion of heart transplant team:

3. Franklin Johns, male, age 42. Mr. Johns, a research scientist at George Washington University, is the leading authority in the world on bacteriological diseases. He is unmarried.

Reasons he should receive the heart:

Reasons he should not receive the heart:

Conclusion of heart transplant team:

4. Carlos Wahnon, male, age 10. Carlos, the son of the Venezuelan Ambassador, is a student in an elementary school. When he grows up, he wants to be a doctor.

Reasons he should receive the heart:

Reasons he should not receive the heart:

Conclusion of heart transplant team:

5. F. Lincoln Bradley, male, age 65. Mr. Bradley is the Vice President of the U.S. He is the father of three grown children, and the grandfather of five.

Reasons he should receive the heart

Reasons he should not receive the heart:

Conclusion of heart transplant team:

6. Helen Jackson, female, age 39. Mrs. Jackson, a recent widow, is unemployed and on welfare. She has three children (ages 4, 8, 10).

Reasons she should receive the heart:

Reasons she should not receive the heart:

Conclusion of heart transplant team: