Transparency in Program Selection

At a glance

Background

This paper outlines the ethical principles that support providing patients with program-specific information to enable them to select the transplant program that best meets their needs. It supports transparency, autonomy, and shared decision-making within the transplant system through an ethical analysis.

The OPTN Ethics Committee provides examples of how increased program-specific, patient-centered information is core to the ethical principles in organ allocation. The information needs to be accessible and meet the patient’s needs, and not just provided on the internet.

Greater transparency about pre-listing information can help patients find programs that are the best fit for the patient’s health needs, values, and preferences.

Supporting media

Presentation

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Summary

• Providing patients with information that is relevant to their clinical characterization, will allow patients to select the transplant center that best meets their needs
• Transparency in program selection is upheld through the ethical principles of autonomy, equity, procedural justice, and utility

Anticipated impact

• What it's expected to do
  • Create an ethical framework for the transplant community to improve the transparency of information patients use to choose a transplant program
  • Explain how information helps meet the patients’ needs
  • Help transplant programs improve equity and autonomy for their patients
  • Provide information that may strengthen the doctor-patient relationship
  • Outline the ethical principles to help future policy and data collection improvements
• What it won't do
  • There are no changes to data collection based on this paper
  • There are no changes to policy based on this paper
  • There are no changes to allocation based on this paper

Terms to know

• Autonomy: The ethical principle of autonomy refers to one’s ability to be self-directing, decide what happens to oneself in the future, and the ability to be a part of decisions regarding one’s own medical treatment.
• Equity: The ethical principle of equity refers to removing barriers in access to transplant so that those with fewer resources still have equal access to information on transplant programs.
• Procedural justice: The ethical principle of procedural justice ensures a commitment to treat cases similarly, transparently, and predictably.
• Utility: The ethical principle of utility refers to creating the most benefit to the transplant community (i.e. promote graft survival, reduce waste, improve efficiency).

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