Recently there has been an issue coming to the medical forefront again and the government's role in it. There is a little 10 year old girl named Sarah Murnaghan is in dire need of a lung transplant. Her doctors say that she could receive an adult lung transplant but she cannot because the rules, set by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and the United Network for Organ Sharing under contract from the department of Health and Human Services, say that a child has to be 12 to qualify to be put on the waiting list for an adult lung transfer. So even though he doctors say that her body is physically capable for an adult lung transplant she cannot receive it because the rule says she has to be 12.
In response to this issue, many in congress have appealed to the secretary of HHS, Kathleen Sebelius, to push the private organizations in charge of making the rules to allow Sarah on the waiting list. However, the secretary has refused to push them to change the rule saying "she can't pick and choose who can receive a transplant, who can have another chance at life and who cannot".
The main argument then I believe that is coming out of this circumstance is over the governments role in the medical field. Right now private industry is setting these rules for transplant and the rules they have set do not allow a chance for this girl to live. Now obviously the private corporations did not set the rules just to let children under 12 die but it is just the way it happened. So the main question is: should the government step in and force them to change the rule to those under 12 to help save this girl's life and others under 12? Is it the governments job to ensure that she has a fair of a chance of survival as a 12 year old? Throughout this blog I have probably come off sounding pretty libertarian when it comes to government interference but I do believe that there are times when government interference is necessary. I believe this because the private world is often just about profit and gain and not what is best for other people. I believe the government should step in and change this rule. This is not just about Sarah but about every other child under 12 that could receive an adult lung and survive. Why should age determine if you get a transplant or not? I believe this rule needs to be changed and if the private industry is not going to do it then the government needs to step in. Morality needs to be at the forefront of every decision either of private or of the government. If the private industry isn't going to make a moral decision then the government needs to step in and make it.
(This is the link to the article I got my information from http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/report-sarah-murnaghans-family-goes-to-court-over-lung-transplant-92281.html#ixzz2VNUwqY24)
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