Should Canadians who develop alcohol-related end-stage liver diseas...

Whose Liver is it Anyway?: A Multicausal Model of Justice in Determining Priority for Liver Transplants

A patient named Betty needs a liver transplant. Cirrhosis and Fatty Liver syndrome has made her liver inoperable. She signs up for a liver transplant through Canada’s publicly funded healthcare system. Should she be given lower priority for the transplant? Have her lifestyle choices deemed her ineligible for priority treatment? The voluntarist model suggests that Betty has made choices that have affected her health and therefore she is responsible for her own actions. The social structural model suggests that despite a person’s health choices, socio-economic status — class, race, education, and access to opportunities — shape people’s lives beyond their control.