The Heart Transplant

You are a member of a team of individuals who are charged with the responsibility of selecting a heart transplant recipient from five candidates who are equally medically compatible and eligible for a heart that has become available. All potential transplant candidates meet the medical criteria to receive the heart according to tissue tests, blood typing, and other medical criteria. All of the candidates are in immediate need of a heart transplant in order to live. Only one heart is available. Rank the following possible heart recipients in order from (1) highest priority to (5) lowest priority for receiving the heart. Be prepared to present a clear rationale for your choices. No two candidates can be given the same ranking.

A) Pat is a mother in her early 40s with two teenage children and one pre-school child, whose husband is out of prison on probation and employed as an auto-mechanic. She is a heavy smoker who has recently attempted to stop smoking, but without success.

B) Timothy is a widower who is in his 40s and the adoptive father of twin 10-year-old sons. He is a teacher of a school in a crime-ridden neighborhood of a large city and is a recovering alcoholic.

C) Chris is a markedly overweight environmentalist who is a middle-aged single father of two adolescent children. He provides in-home care for his disabled mother.

D) Frances is a laboratory assistant in her 20s who has just graduated with honors from college with a bachelor's degree in biology and has just been accepted to medical school. She is a registered eye donor. She has applied for, but not yet received, American citizenship.

E) Joe is a 55-year-old stockbroker with two college-age children and one primary school-age child. He promised to endow a new heart and lung research wing for the hospital if he receives a heart transplant.